HomeMy WebLinkAboutFCS Agenda - 2020-01-13 - Public BudgetFinance & Corporate ServicesCommittee
Special Meeting Agenda
Monday, January 13, 2020
7:30 p.m.
Office of the City Clerk
Council Chamber
Kitchener City Hall
nd
200 King St.W. -2Floor
Kitchener ON N2G 4G7
Page 1Chair -Councillor S. Davey Vice-Chair -Councillor J. Gazzola
*Members of Council are asked to bring previously circulated budget materials to use as reference for
this meeting.
DiscussionItems
1.Draft 2020Budget -Public Consultation
a)Remarks -Director of Financial Planning
b)Registered Delegations
Pursuant to Council’s Procedural By-law, delegations are permitted to address the
Committee for a maximumof 5 minutes.
Tony LaMantia,Waterloo Economic DevelopmentCorporation
Iain Klugman, Communitech
Sean Geobey, University of Waterloo
InformationItems
Issue Paper -2020Public Budget Input
(Materials to be circulated under separate cover)
Jeff Bunn
Manager, Council & Committee Services/Deputy City Clerk
** Accessible formats and communication supports are available upon request. If you require assistance to
take part in a city meeting or event, please call 519-741-2345 or TTY 1-866-969-9994 **
REPORT TO: Finance and Corporate Services Committee
DATE OF MEETING:January13, 2020
SUBMITTED BY: Ryan Hagey, Director of Financial Planning, 519-741-2200 x 7353
PREPARED BY: RyanHagey, Director of Financial Planning, 519-741-2200 x 7353
WARD (S) INVOLVED:All
DATE OF REPORT:January 6, 2020
REPORT NO.:FIN-20-004
SUBJECT:2020Budget Public Input
___________________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION:
For information.
BACKGROUND:
As part of the annual budget process, the City holds a Public Input Night where residents can
provide their opinions on the budget directly to Council. In addition to the information
presented this way to Council, staff also summarize feedback provided through other methods
regarding the proposed budget.
REPORT:
The primary method of resident feedback about the budget is through the City’s online survey.
This year a total of 474 people responded to the survey, up from 255 people the year before.
The survey had two sectionsto it. The first included a number of questions that have been
asked in previous budget surveys. The second provided respondents with an opportunity to vote
for the Strategic Items being considered by Council through the 2020 budget. Highlights from
the survey are noted below (results from the prior year provided in bracketswhere applicable).
Section 1 – Standard Budget Survey Questions
Value of City Services
61% saidthe City delivers good value in some areas, but others need improvement (55%)
28% said the City delivers good value(37%)
10% said the City does not deliver good value(8%)
Rate Increases
68% saidthe proposed tax rate increase is very/somewhat reasonable(72%)
51% saidthe proposed water utility rate increase is very/somewhat reasonable(51%)
Service Levels & Property Tax Increases
40% said they want to improve service levels and are willing to pay for it(36%)
32% said they want to maintain service levels and are willing to pay more for them(42%)
27% said they want to reduce service levels and pay less(22%)
*** This information is available in accessible formats upon request. ***
Please call 519-741-2345 or TTY 1-866-969-9994 for assistance.
IF1 - 1
Regarding service levels and property tax increases, there seems to be growing support from
respondents to make improvements to service levels. In previous budget surveys (and broader
community surveys) the most popularresponse to a similarquestion has been to maintain
existing service levels.The comments provided for this question in relation to improving services
indicate that respondentshave specific services in mind for whichthey are willing to pay more.
The actual written comments for this and other survey questions are provided as an appendix to
this report. Based on Council feedback in prior years, the comments have been grouped into
the following themes and are ordered based on number of comments for each question.
Transportation/TransitEnvironment/Sustainability
Affordable HousingCity Finances
Snow RemovalGeneral Feedback
As with otherCity surveys, some of the comments relate to Regional services such as police,
LRT, and Regional roadways. The appendix also includes graphs of the survey responses.
Section 2 – Strategic Items
The second section of the budget survey put respondents in the seat of a Councillor and asked
them how they would allocate funding towards different areas of focus for both the operating and
capital budgets. The tables below summarize the voting results with the winning options
highlighted in green.
For the operating budget there is $360,000 to be allocatedas part of the 2020 budget. The most
popular options chosen be respondents add up to $339,000, meaning they fit within available
funding. Many of the operating budget votes were quite close, with support formost of the
options within an area of focus.
Summary of Operating Budget Strategic Items Votes
Operating BudgetVotes
Option A - $0148
Community Grants
Option B - $22k159
Option C - $39k169
Total
476
Option A – Conserve and Protect- $50,000135
Sustainable Urban
Option B – Risk Mitigation & Inspection - $100,000156
Forest Strategy
Option C – Tree Pruning / Proactive Maintenance - $200,000118
Option D – Nothing59
Total
468
Option A - Contribution to ALL IN - $75,00093
Affordable Housing
Option B - Contribution to All IN and $50,000 for quick wins - $125,000132
Strategy
Option C - Contribution to ALL IN and $125,000 for quick wins - $200,000138
Option D – Nothing
100
Total
463
Expanding Leisure
Option A - $0277
Access Program
Option B - Leisure Access to cover Neighbourhood Association Fees - $143,000154
Total
431
IF1 - 2
For the capital budget there is $3,500,000 to be allocated as part of the 2020 budget. The most
popular options chosen be respondents add up to $3,357,000,meaning they fit within available
funding. Unlike operating, the capital votes were not very close as far as respondent preferences
as shown in the table below.
Summary of CapitalBudget Strategic Items Votes
Capital BudgetVotes
Option A – $150,000 per year for 10 years - $1,500,000196
Option B – $175,000 per year for 10 years - $1,750,00072
Love My Hood
Option C – $300,000 per year for 10 years - $3,000,00065
Option D – Nothing137
Total
470
Option A - Fund three initiatives for a reduction of 149 tonnes of CO2 annually - $207,00073
Corporate Climate
Option B - Fund five initiatives for a reduction of 218 tonnes of CO2 annually - $472,00096
Action Plan
Option C - Fund five initiatives for a reduction of 331 tonnes of CO2 annually - $957,000206
Option D – Nothing91
Total
466
Option A - $300,000 per year for three years - $900,000235
Participatory
Option B - $400,000 per year for three years - $1,200,00086
Budgeting
Option C - $300,000 per year for ten years - $3,000,00024
Option D – Nothing108
Total
453
ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN:
The recommendation of this report supports the achievement of the city's strategic vision
through the delivery of core service.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
INFORM – This report has been posted to the City’s website with the agenda in advance of the
council / committee meeting.
ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Jonathan Lautenbach, Chief Financial Officer, Financial Services
IF1 - 3
Appendix
Detailed Survey Results
1)Do you feel the City of Kitchener provides good value through our services?
IF1 - 4
Appendix
Detailed Survey Results
Comments:
Environment/Sustainability
More support is needed in the form of grants for homeowners to contribute more
significantly to reducing the amount stormwater waste. The amount of credits that the
city offers is insignificant in comparison to the cost to home owner’s to make the
necessary changes to accomplish anything of impact. Increasing the amount of the
grants would show both an effort on the City’s part to share the cost and assist in
accomplishing water saving goals as a team effort and would help accomplish these
goals sooner.
Transportation/Transit
Investment into cycling is a great way to improve our transportation system, make our
city safer, mor inclusive, and more sustainable, and meet our climate goals.
Our cities current policy of putting bicycle lanes and sidewalks on both sides of every
rebuilt street, regardless of need, is a waste of money, particularly when other streets
which could use these don't get them.
Our city must also be getting a great deal on cement, given theamounts being
needlessly used. Intersections with huge bases at the end of sidewalks and massive
driveways suggest that the city is not being sincere when it encourages citizens to
reduce impermeable areas on there property.
Far too much focus on pet projects and not enough on key infrastructure needs.
Understanding there is an 'infrastructure gap', spending should be focused on road
rehabilitation. It's embarrassing how poor shape some of the main roads in the city
are. Get that fixed first before wespend money on consultants etc for many pet
projects that have sprung up in recent years.
Transit needs to be a focus if we are truly in a "Climate Emergency."
more infrastructure into active transportation. . .too much money is going into
supporting automobile transportation infrastructure
As an avid cyclist, I must say that the bike lanes are a disaster, please stop finding
such a useless project
We need pools and hockey arenas we also need better more educated and trained
bylaw staff
The city and region waste money left right and centre. Roads sit without top coats
applied, get tore up again and sit once again waiting for top coats. Can’t things be
finished on time and on budget? I’ve called in numerous times about a parking/lane
use issue and have yet to have any follow-up; so clearly the city is fine paying staff to
do NOTHING!
Snow removal and general road repairs seem to have gone down in the last 5-10
years
please expand the ION system
Our city need to be more pet friendly. We have next too no garbages along side
streets where a majority of our pet owners walk their pets.
Our Bus routes need to be revamped. WHY DO WE HAVE A BUS STOPPING ON
KING AND BLOCKING ALL TRAFFIC?? We have the LRT now move the bus stops
elsewhere
IF1 - 5
Appendix
Detailed Survey Results
I’m pleased with the improvements to the Iron Horse Trail. I’d like to see more signage
or pavement markings for pedestrian and cyclist safety when crossing the roads that
cross the trail.
I would love to see more consistency in bike lanes. There is a Dutch design that looks
particularly promising: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-needs-follow-dutch-
way-bike-lane-design
I would like the water to be fluoridated.
Roads are a mess and repairs are not planned to accommodate alternate routes.
Bicycle lanes are just stupid - restricting cars travelling all the time for the occasional
bike -better to use the sidewalks + boulevard.
Upgrade libraries, upgrade parks, upgrade roads
I feel as though some areas of the city are nice and great, but feel as though some
things get underestimated and become a problem, like pot holes and roads, and if
there was a more effective way to maintain roads
LRT is a nuisance for carcommuters. Rather than a rail on the road system, it should
have been above the road column bridge or an underground system. Because of this
King St is traffic logged more than ever. Poor to and fro Via rail service to Toronto.
Unaffordable housing. Rising homelessness and crime.
Snow removal
Bicycle infrastructure, personal safety in downtown, snow removal
Plow the sidewalks.
A few years ago the City proposed a Sidewalk cleaning program in which the city
would maintain sidewalks during the winter season. It was turned down by council
which was very disappointing. In my neighbourhood there are many seniors and
individuals who travel using assistive devices. I myself and at an age where I don't
need assistance but many properties in the city do not maintain snow removal
(consistently) and there is no action from the city. I would be willing to pay more for
this program while stillmaintaining my sidewalk on my own.
Better management of sidewalk accessibility including removal of slanted sidewalks
at driveways. Match sidewalk clearing policy to climate change
The city should be providing snow clearing on all major transit routessidewalks.
While the city provides many useful services, I feel that we are missing opportunities
to significantly improve the lives of residents for small marginal costs. The ongoing
lack of action around fixing the lack of sidewalk clearing in the winter is one such
example. On the other hand, why is parking an expense line in the budget? The city
owns some of the most desirable land in the downtown core, and we should be
making money on parking instead of paying for it.
The city begins the sidewalk snow removal pilot this winter, for the first 2 snow falls so
far, the city has a failing grade. We shoveled the sidewalk and some of our neighbours
did not and now it is packed with snow and ice.
None of the side streets are ever plowed. I understand the main roads have to be
plowed first. But when it hasn’t snowed in multiple days and the roads still aren’t
plowed it becomes extremely frustrating. Its like this in the three different
neighborhoods in kitchener i have lived in
Winter snow clearance is poor in residential neighbourhoods.
IF1 - 6
Appendix
Detailed Survey Results
I believe the city could do more to clear sidewalks in the city. I think the snow angel
program is great, but isn't enough. I worry about neighbours (especially from the
senior's resident) slipping on our sidewalks when weare out of town or when stores
are sold out of salt/sand.
Allowing homeowners to rake their leaves into the street for pickup by the City is a
waste of taxpayers' money and promotes laziness. This money would be much better
spent on clearing sidewalks ofsnow in the winter.
I think there are some services that don't need as much funding or can be
consolidated, and others that can be expanded upon. City wide snow removal is one
such option that can be expanded on.
Proper snow clearing done by the city isa significant area of concern for folks who
walk, the elderly, and children. It is something that could make a hugedifference for
the community. Please also consider putting fluoride back in to the water supply to
support the dental health of our communities.
Sidewalk snow removal especially around Malls and Bus stop areas needs to improve
Would like it if pedestrian access were as important as vehicle access. Please clear all
sidewalks and make residents of each dead-end cul-de-sac apply for a $500 grant for
a snowblower to clear a road that only they use. The savings from not clearing
hundreds of cul-de-sacs with a specialized snowblower would pay for sidewalks to be
cleared by the city.
My road never gets plowed, maybe 2 days later and I'm the lasthouse on the street
and sometimes I cannot even get down my street. Why are the sidewalks being
cleaned by city staff when the roads aren't even being plowed?
City Finances
Kitchener seems to deliver a lot within modest budget increases
Too many tax dollars go to grants and pet projects.
We need to address the duplication of services,is roads and sewers,fire services,lack
of consistently in bylaws.
They spend money on wants and then tax us for the needs
Occasionally I see projects that cost too much.
I pay my taxes but have to take my leaves to a site while others are collected.
Financial management has been positive in acquiring surpluses for multiple years.
Seeing that this will require additional tax hikes that have been announced, I'd like to
see this money reinvested in affordable and/or supportive housing. The market has
already priced out many valuable community members and as taxes are raised, it only
compounds the issue.
Core services are okay, mission creep ancillary handouts are crap. Also, the trend
towards separating huge ongoing costs from general taxation revenue to secondary
fees/levies makes it too easy to sneak in much higher rate increases for things that
should have been funded property in the firstplace. Everything is not a crisis that
demands gigantic cash infusions to fix poor budgeting decisions of the past.
Better prioritization needs to be made. Pilot projects seem to be a bit “out there” when
there are expenses coming up like replacing the boilers at allof our recreation facilities
but sidewalks are going to be plowed by the city. That’s the responsibility of the home
owner.
It is hard to please everyone.
IF1 - 7
Appendix
Detailed Survey Results
The police services are over-funded and need to do more with less.
This amount of money city cando far better than what they are providing if middle
school kids can do the budgeting than big fat paid city workers. Too many waste of
money and over budget.
Taxes keep rising and yet services have declined such as the number of garbage
pickups.
People are struggling more now than ever and have trouble paying their Bill's
ecspecailly around this time of the year, so instead of trying to he sympathize they
charge a $30+ delivery fee and slap a notice on their door to not only notify but
embarrass the people struggling so all their neighbors can see they are falling on hard
tomes. If someone is having trouble paying bills the last thing they need is a $30
delivery fee for someone to drive down the road instead of putting it in their mail box.
Absolutelydoes not. Street issues, poor construction planning, poor services... its just
not ran well. Too much bureaucratic overhead.
Enough money spent in the downtown, now lets get back out into the neighborhoods
that provide the tax money to be spent for the downtown. I wouldn't go downtown
and sure wouldn't live downtown if you paid me to - it is still a scary place to be in the
daytime or at night.
I do not use or value most of what the city does. Lower taxes, just manage
infrastructure, leave the rest toprivate orgs.
I think the city overspends
I feel that it is a waste to make Gaukle Street a park (possibly spelled wrong). Another
280,000 spent and yet we have so many people in need of shelter. How is that going
to keep them warm, or fed. It will give another place to hang out.I really feel that we
as a city, seem to want to look good, instead of doing good. I am really not happy
about that kind of money, spent for something that is so cosmetic..…..there is a park
walking distance from that area. I am so irate about this issue, that I better leave it as
is.
This city wastes money and I 'd like it stopped -they have meetings and want input but
do whatever they wish with no regard for people struggling with rent/property tax etc
Every year propertytaxes increases, now I can not use the public transit because the
bus lines that was in front of my house was removed and the only way to use the bus
is by walking 900 meters down hill in the snow and ice, my mom has problems with
her knee; she cannot walk 900 meters in the cold downhill at 7 Am which at that time
the sidewalk is not yet clean, another great thing!So thanks to the new transit
changes I had to go private transit and buy an affordable to makes things easier for
my mom as the city did not care for this. It is great when the city decides to take more
money from your pockets and you cannot do anything about it! I sucks that you have
to pay 30% more in properties taxes for something you are never going to use and for
something that makes forceyou to move to private transit. This city does not have in
mind that owners of houses have to pay for the following:
(House mortgage, properties tax, heating cost, electricity, water, sewer, monthly water
heater rentals (and in canada it is a need- not aluxury item), monthly water filtration
rental, property insurance and for some people condo fees which increase every
year this is what many of Kitchener citizens have to deal with every month, I hear this
story many times from many of my friends and have read it on reedit but I do not see
anyone doing anything about it.
IF1 - 8
Appendix
Detailed Survey Results
Our roads are poor, we pay high taxes, some of the highest in the City and get poor
services in return, last to be plowed.example, we pay same property taxes for our
residence as a residence around the corner, it is not a transit corridor, it is not a school
corridor, yet it receives more care to remove all snow by way of plowing, sanding or
salting. Yet our street barely is plowed, salted or sanded.....and when it is sanded the
process is occasional, with little salt/sand applied, and only in the middle of the street.
The city the only thing they know is only increasing taxes, how about the money that
its wheel bath spend. The money they waste could do a lot, but no its is always easer
to raise taxes.
I believe that all tax payers should have a say on whether we use our taxes for
inappropriate thinks. Save injections sight shouldn’t happen. Spend the money and
build a facility to help those with addiction not encourage them
Taxes are high. City services are good in many areas
In general, the City delivers good value, but service delivery is biased in favor of
certain categories of citizens/taxpayers/users. In particular, a significant percent of
expenditures relate to automobile owners, while pedestrians receive minimal services
in terms of sidewalk investment and maintenance.
Affordable Housing
Way more needs to be done on affordable housing and social services
I live in one of the subsidy housing. Thank you. Really, helps a lot.
The city needs to think more about homelessness and the poor. We have far too much
unaffordable housing and far too many people who can’t afford food. Many many
people in our region gowithout food because they are trying to keep a roof over their
heads.
We need more affordable housing to provide for everyone in the city
The housing situation is atrocious, especially for non-students. A city's job is to make a
liveable community-and you can't do it without affordable shelter.
The City has a great opportunity to be progressive and working with the Federal,
Provincial and Regional governments on the affordable housing spectrum.
Collaborating with these groups rather than saying not myresponsibility will make the
city better. All those living in Kitchener are your citizens, your residents and
responsibility regardless of what the actually funding may come from. Look at unique
solutions that can move quickly. Economic development on its own will not be make
a great city. It may actually bring more poverty, crime and dissatifaction if all aspects
of growth are not managed properly.
General Feedback
water usage rates have increased well above inflation rate for the last 5 years, is their
an end to that??
I'd like to better understand where the line is drawn between city of Kitchener and
region of Waterloo responsibilities
test
Need a proper Downtown community centre
Recreation facilities are badly in need of.major renovation like Lyle hallman pool
They spend all this money on bike lanes and barriers. Yet the do not charger bikes to
use it..They should have bikers buy a license plate to helppay the cost of of these
IF1 - 9
Appendix
Detailed Survey Results
lanes.
We had to buy one about 50 years ago and did get anything in return
Development charges are way too high
Room rentals should require landlords to have a permit like Waterloo's regulation.
Landlords are not respecting tenant safety and still raise rent.
Not sure that older adults are well served. Programs do not reflect diversity of
community. Community Centres are under utilized
We desperately need fluoride in our water. Why was it removed? Do we not listen to
science and only do what some people are "feeling" without regard for how it actual
impacts health?Also, why is the City of Kitchener not already plowing sidewalks? I
know there is a pilot program, but it should be expedited and we need to get them
plowed by professionals with quality equipment. Why would we rely on our population
to individually purchase equipment and inefficiently expend their energies to do it? It's
so, so, so much cheaper to have the cost consolidated. No brainer.
We need fluoride in our water and the city needs to handle sidewalk shovelling in the
winter.
Good value for garbage/recycling/green bin pick up and for clearing snow on main
roads.Could provide better value by contributing to daycare fee reduction programs
since people with small children are often need a financial break.
Need garbage can by Breithaupt center. A lot people walk by and the is a bus shelter.
The garbage is all over the ground
Waterloo Region is one Community and should amalgamate for savings-services,
standards, and facilities
Bike lanes are an environmental wish list item, but the average citizen in Kitchener will
NEVER use them. This is a monumental waste of tax payer's money.
traffic calming seems inefficient use of funds
Arts and Culture must be supported like other cities in Ontario and Canada
Better cultural facilities are needed.
need more public recreational and arts centres
Yes, they go above my expectations. I grew up in waterloo and find kitchener services
to be far superior.
One area the city could make a big difference is in banning one-use plastic bags
following the leads of other cities in Canada. I think that the LRT could have been a
trolley system using the same overhead wire system as in days gone by and saved
multi-millions of dollars. I feel it will be a white elephant and a money drain on our
budget. It definitely needs to put some money into the homeless supporting The
Working Centre and its great initiatives. Listen closely to the suggestions of their
leadership team in dealing with the problems that they meet every day.
Focusing too much on economic development that has not shown any trickle down
benefits for the low income people who live in the city, and does not place value on
those who suffer marginalization, addictions and mental health issues.
Im not sure what services this is referring to but I have been trying to get help for
some type of long term drug treatment due to my opioid addiction and it seems unless
you have money theres no services available. Also I am about to be homeless due to
lack of affordable housing and there isnt even a spot in the local shelters. I'm getting
ready to spend my nights sleeping on a cot in different church's every night. The
church makes sure to take 20 off your welfare or disability cheque for renting the
IF1 - 10
Appendix
Detailed Survey Results
cot...sorry I mean gym may...and a sandwich, even though the product's used to make
the sandwich were likely donated. So lack of community workers, the amount of
homeless people is astonishing.
Public housing should be a priority.
Needs more affordable housing
Very good garbage and recycling services, snow removal, parks and recreation
Overall it feels like the city of Kitchener does a good job providing services cost-
effectively. In particular, we have not had a "RIM Park Disaster", and the Kitchener
strategy of community-scale recreation services throughout the wards (library
branches, pools, parks, etc in each area of the city) is a better model than the
Waterloo model (one Recplex, essentially only one library, one RIM Park).
In the region there are three different governments to deal with, Region of Waterloo,
City of Kitchener, and the Waterloo Region School Board. If there is an issue who
should I call, the region or the city or in some cases the school board. Can we have
one number to call 311 and it would be their responsibility to route the issue to the
proper government.
Good management of resources and future planning
Downtown definitely needs more attention. There are a lot of homeless, drug guys and
prostitutes in that area that often disturb familiar environments (with children) such as
restaurants and bakeries during day and night time.
Too much spent on public transportation in such a way that doesn't affect typical
suburban drivers, which I'm willing to bet is the majority of drivers, especially during
rush hours. We can't take the Ion unless we want to triple or quadruple our commutes.
The bus in my neighbourhood (22 in Activa) comes every 30 minutes and is a ten
minute walk away from me. Takingit and the Ion to downtown takes an hour
minimum, when it's a 15 minute drive. Driving in this city is much cheaper than public
transportation when you consider time, money, and effort. This doesn't make sense, I
would love to take public transportation for the sake of the environment, but I just can't
afford it. Multiply this across all the citizens in the same situation (There's mostly one
person per car out there). Why can't the suburbs have better/more frequent busses?
Many of us would switch to public transport that way. Again, multiply that by the
number of citizens that would switch, it would be so much better for the environment,
and more money for the GRT rather than car/gas companies.
The cost to maintain the bike lanes in the winter months is ridiculous for the very few
that use them. The City seems to be more concerned with keeping the bike lanes
cleared down to the asphalt but not the city streets which are being used by thousands
of vehicles daily??
The city does not adhere to it practices. Your website states: Kitchener wants to
serve you right! Tell us how we're doing. Despite repeatedly asking and telling
departments that they need to keep us informed (e.g. Deer Ridge parkettes and flower
beds, traffic calming initiatives, and the latest one is tearing down a barn framework
that became an historical preservation initiative within Deer Ridge when the builder
tore the original barn down with no dialogue or communication with the residents, and
most probably in contravention with historical preservation policy within the City)!
What's it going to take for the City to walk the talk!
Parks need investment. And not just 3 main ones you need to drive to.
Too often response times from Council and staff are still too long. I noticed many
sidewalks with asphalt repairs these breakdown leaving a bigger tripping hazard
IF1 - 11
Appendix
Detailed Survey Results
Need to focus value on projects with greater impact. I want to walk to one of our
wonderful downtown Kitchener restaurants at night and feel safe. Money needs to be
spent towards housing, shelters, treatment of addictions and other social services
supporting those in the greatest need
The requirements to have to give your own personal information when reporting bylaw
violations is wrong. More proactive enforcement should take place especially in
relation to parking violations.
The leaf clean up doesn't seem to happen due to they do it so late in the season or
they won't bring in more man power. Snow clean up is on the poor side. Residents
have 24hr to clean the side walks but the side roads take 4 days to get to.
I find that the City is responsive to my occasional requests and operates efficiently.
Parks and recreation programming and facilities are excellent! So impressed with
these!
Greater Wifi coverage is needed
I was so happy to see that the Iron Horse trail has been fixed up between John St and
Gage. Also flowers in the summer time are always well maintained and lively. At
Christmas, it would be nice to better placement of the Christmas lights in Victoria Park.
(Waterloo Park by comparison does a great job and hosts music and hot chocolate
too). I think downtown BIA needs support identifying what the downtown brand is and
bringing in businesses that align with that brand. More restaurants (rather than fast
food) and shops would be nice.
I’d like to be able to call my car in for overnight parking like Waterloo has. 15 passes
per license per year.
Landscaping is insufficient. Throughout the summer weeds grow around boulevards
and cracks in road. Aspects of the city look abandoned. The Fischer Hallman
expressway exit is a great example. There could and should be nice landscaping to
make the city more attractive.
IF1 - 12
Appendix
Detailed Survey Results
2)How do you feel about the proposed 2.2% tax levy increase?
IF1 - 13
Appendix
Detailed Survey Results
Comments:
City Finances
Only "very reasonable" if we see good value for the increased investment. **Sidewalk
snow-clearing**, traffic calming and road diets, library and community centre
investment, staff and services. Seeing good value also means seeing the city improve
operating efficiency, cutting waste. We need to see you continue to identify programs
and services that don't work well, and either cut or re-vamp them. I cannot imagine an
organization as large as Kitchener having 100% efficient and effective programs and
services -so if you can't find them, you are not looking. A Tax levy increase will come
with a larger burden of proof that the money is being spent effectively and equitably.
As mentioned in my previous comment I believe services are needed and would be
willing to pay more for them.
I am willing to pay $24 more a year for the services outlined in this budget (which is
very easy to understand this year!)
Honestly, inflation is at 1.9%, this is only 0.3% increase in cost, it's essentially flat. If
we can do all this while still making the investments we need, that's great.
People are already over taxed.
Adding 12 new staff is too many. The private sector often has to do more with less.
Maybe some departments need to be consider for a review
Many other non-City services, which are already very expensive and don't provide as
much value, continue to increase their rates at inflation or more. The City's proposed
increase is very reasonable.
I am 100% fine with the tax increase but it must go towards things that will actually
have a positive impact on the city's biggest issues! Housing, homelessness and
addictions
should match rate of wage growth which is below this value
We need to keep up infrastructure and there are no free rides.
Keep it to no more than inflation. You have seniors on fixed incomes, where do they
get the extra money? Then forcing them to hire someone to shovel their snow, come
on, lets think about this. If the province it mandating a wage hike of 1%, that should be
across the board for all government employees, not just a select few.
The cost of everything goes up so the answer has to be the taxes go up or you cut
services. There are always efficiencies, especially in government, that can be found
but at some point there are no efficiencies left and zero based budgeting only results
in super high budget increases in following years. That being said, I am sure there are
under utilized services that can be cut if Council had the appetite for the fight.
I’d support a higher increase to make improvements in the city
I want an item by item showing all expenses per household so I can tell you what is
appropriate and what is not, in my opinion.
They waste our money on wants and never try to find money through department
efficiencies. Not concerned with low income or fixed income citizens when catering to
1%ers.
Cannot continue to increase taxes because certain services get a pay increase every
year (police, fire).
Sooner or later you will have older residents move out --we already question the
value the city provides.
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For essential services it’s reasonable but other places it’s not
I am not sure if it's doable but can thetax be progressive or provide tax breaks for low-
income families?
This number is very misleading.... I don't own a mansion and it will be over 3 times
that for my increase. something sneaky here.
Every year our taxes go up. Not only the city's portion but the regional portion as well.
My paycheck does not keep pace with the amount of money asked for. It would be
nice to have NO tax increase,
The council has to learn how to budget. They no different than ordinary citizens.
Actually, they are in a far more powerful position. They are in charge of our money.
Why can't they save for things just like everyone else does? Maybe someone should
interview Hazel Mcallion the former mayor of Mississauga and find out how she did it
for so many years.
As mentioned previously, it would be nice to see these tax moneys used to uplift the
most vulnerable members of our community. The economic system in which we
operate that produces money at interest and creates an inescapable loop of debt is
ridiculous. Until we seriously look at redistributing resources to protect our most
vulnerable communities, tax increases that appear necessary to continue to provide or
improve existing services are instead tools that decrease the purchasing power of
every person within a certain salary band (or under a certain annual income) and
compound issues of poverty and affordability in the community.
They could save money by not voting themselves a raise while we fight to get 1%
wage increase.
I can accept a 2.2% increase as long asefforts are being made to keep cost
reasonable.
Fire services are over paid in terms of rate of pay increases and need to be brought in
line with rate of inflation
Stop wasting money and maybe taxes wouldn’t need to go up!
Goes up every year my pay doesn't, which means I cut more and more things out...
What are you cutting? Million dollar fire trucks? 3 trucks responding to minor calls just
to make their numbers look good? Most parks look fine but lack washrooms or
portapotties...
This is basically atinflation, I consider it a flat increase. I think all property tax hikes
should be shown in the context of inflation.
Too big of an increase without targeting priority items like water and sewer
maintenance and replacement. Stop the nice to have and focus on the primary areas
I see so much money wasted with the city staff and I know a bunch of people that
work there as well . To many employees doing a job that one can do
This 2.2% is a higher rate than inflation and also higher than the raises we get at work
Housing prices have gone up 20%. Property tax is based on value of properties, so
you already got a 20% increase.
It's very affordable.
Bureaucracies are slow to find efficiencies. It's easier to let things slide than to face
the reality of wasteful practices.
Compare this to cost of living increase for average household.
The 2.2% does not reflect the whole picture. In addition to this amount there are water
and sewer related levies as well as storm water management levies, both of which
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used to be included in the tax rate but are now conveniently separated. Back when
they were included, Council and management paid little attention to these items
feeling they were "out of site, out of mind" until they weren't. Then the huge amount of
money required to upgrade and maintain them became an embarrassment to Council
and rather than deal with these items up front as part of the regular taxes, they chose
to form a special levy, hoping no one would notice.
Not everyone can afford to pay their current taxes... more money could cause some
big problems for lower income households.
Make due with what you have. Quit spending more. There is unnecessary
$2 dollars a month would be reasonable ..... But that will never happen
Money could be saved by using smaller more fuel efficient budget friendly vehicles
for example get rid of larger cars & suvs
More than inflation
If anything I would prefer even higher takes for wealthier areas to increase park
maintenance
maintenance doesn't need to use all of its budgets. They can actually shrink. if you
would stop spending all your money because you have too, so you get an increase.
That could save a lot of money instead of increasing it every year.
Should be kept to 1.9% inflation rate unless services are being enhanced.
My tax is $ 288 per month. everbody thinks $24 is ok but 2% here 2% Gas 5% food
3% home heat.I am 78 on fixed income, my pension is not going up 2%-2%-5%-3%. It
is time the police ambulance fire should free income,1000 per year shouldbe enough,
I never made more than 30000 a year, now all my saving are gone AND WILL HAVE
TO GET A REVERSE MORGAGE. And you think 2.2% is ok. BULL.
inflation rate for Canada is only 1.9%
Given that some services are no longer provide by the City I feel this increase is not
justified.
Could be higher to address infrastructure needs
Property values are already rising much faster than inflation -why does the city need
to increase taxes even more than property values are rising?
but it is already too highfor no reason.
I would argue that the proposed tax increase should be higher, in order to invest in
crumbling infrastructure and support a higher quality of services
As mentioned, tax increases are not maintaining service levels.
Could be more to address issues
It could be more so that it can fund more items.
I cant understand how our city needs to keep raising taxes when we have our own
hydro AND gas utility? Why doesnt the city take more from them? Maybe stop giving
the hydro workers overtime while other night crews are available to take the callouts
Again Bill's keep rising but people make the same amount. Compounding an already
fragile and complex issue.
As long as proper auditing is happening (please allocate budget towards that), I'm fine
with such a minimal increase.
save money by cutting expenses, eliminate unnecessary staff
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wages need to be looked at -there have been only minimal or no increases for
several yrs in the private sector yet public employee wages and benefits continue to
rise
Its not needed. The money is there. Stop giving each other raises.
Esspecially when cost of living is at a standstill and the cost of rent has skyrocketed!
Then we have the horrible gas prices,hydro going up,oil,natural gas,propane......
So do I think it's fair cmon be honest you already know what the answer should be
specially when 2 percent of the population hold all the wealth?!?!!!
Should never be above inflation....work within the means!
Find savings
The average is not near my cost. My property taxes exceed $6000 a year. Yet, my
street is not always plowed, the Tremaine park is far less supierior than others and
many children use it. I've been waiting 5 years for the trees cut down behind my house
in the park to be replanted. I wouldn't mind an increase if it were spread fairly.
This is in line with the CPI
Listen closely to Councillor John Gazzola; I trust his points of view.
I know on it's own 2.2% doesn't sound like a lot, but the issue is it's compounded year
after year afteryear on top of growing tax bills. Wages are stagnant and not keeping
up with inflation.
Since the Ontario government is both uploading costs to the federal government, and
downloading costs to the municipal governments, it was inevitable that the city would
have to increase taxes to keep up with costs and continue to support our residents.
Ultimately though, I believe we need a more balanced taxation formula to support the
services we need in Kitchener, and more broadly in Waterloo region. I'm happy to pay
taxes, but I'd like to see the province doing a better job of prioritizing the needs of our
most vulnerable citizens.
I have no issues with the raise...…...I sure a good amount goes to policing. Our police
force are so important to our city. I am a little surprised that the tax payers, shoulders
are the ones that get hit. Many people living here make 50,000 a year of less. They
are the one who shoulder a lot, and cannot even afford a evening at a Ranger game. I
being one of the residents. You ever givea thought to the low income earners, they
are being taxed already at a level that they are struggling with. There people don't get
perks like two free tickets to a hockey game.
I don't trust the money will be used properly. The perks are full of garbage as well as
the streets sidewalks roads highways Etc and another quick example I see piles I
need you salt on the streets and sidewalk, possible machinery problem but whatever
the reason it's a waste of money and horrible for the environment!
My pay didn't go up 2.2%. Wish there was a way to make employers in the area keep
up with cost of living. Then maybe their voices would join ours when things like
housing and parking rates increased by 150% But I understand the need.
Difficult for peopleon fixed income like seniors to make ends meet. Feel like we are
being push out after supporting the city for decades. Savings need to be found at City
Hall. Wages should never surpass private sector. Infrastructure fees to developers
should cover cost and maintenance of things like new parks and community centres.
Better enforcement of Bylaws to generate revenue. Water/sewer charges are
unreasonable. It seems that by being environmentally conscious we are being taxed
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more and more for it. Work with other cities and townships to bring cost down on
overlapping services, such as fire and road maintenance.
No need for an increase with all the wasted money.
No tax levy -we pay enough -tighten purse strings in other areas -when there is not
money - you stop spending on frivolous things like bike lanes - gifts for nice
neighbours -totally unnecessary
As a single mom hone owner this is too much!
The framing of this question can lead to ambiguous results. It should ask whether it is
too much, just enough,or not enough. I support a tax levy increase of at least 2.2%
because I believe the City of Kitchener can do a lot to improve the lives of citizens. I
am particularly interested in the possibility of investment in support of the Affordable
Housing Strategy. We are in a housing crisis and we need take a variety of actions to
make housing more affordable.
I believe certain services such as fire protection need to be reviewed and more
carefully budgeted and scrutinized. In regards to snowplowing i noticed the previous
year that services diminished in my particular area and neighborhood when it came to
roads being plowed in timely manner.
Its above the rate of inflation
I find a lot of funds are used for cycling routes, ie repair, maintenance, upgrade,
maybe a consideration for fees for usage like for pools and playgrounds
This has to stop. Everyone 'deserves' about 2% annually. Teachers, police,... I have
not averaged anywhere near 2% over this decade! My family keeps falling farther and
farther behind.The perceived entitlement is madness which must stop somewhere. Be
a trend-setter Barry and Scott. Hold staff to task. Hey, what's their pay raise look like
again -rhetorical. They get automatic 'steps' plus annual raises. This has to stop.
Not reasonable, I have a house with no sidewalks and my road is never plowed!
This is the rate of inflation. It sucks, but I understand how and why it is necessary.
That said, I think the city should better look at how budget is being spent
(procurement), rather than simply trying to I crease budget. There is a lot of
opportunity in savings. Check out Bonfire procurement software to help.
Too much spent on maintenance, let the plants grow, our parks are not golf courses. A
dusting of snow is ok, this is Canada, not Florida. Ease cup on the salt and the triple
daily plowing in the same day.
It is reasonable for the levy to increase at a level similar to inflation, since the city's
costs of providing services (wages, services, materials) also increase in cost at about
this rate overall. It is better to increase consistently every year than to give "tax
holidays" with no increases, and then need to have greater increases (or underfund
important but less visible items like infrastructure maintenance) in later years.
municipalities need to look toward shared services model, especially for fire services.
Cost of living wage is not a 2 percent increase. Yes, but 24 a year is not much more.
However, 2 percent for utilities, 3 percent hydro. Cable, phone, etc starts to add up.
I will not get a 2.2% increase next year.
use existing budget to fund these costs. The public pays enough taxes, cuts should be
made in other public centers such as salaries and/or funding to the Waterloo Regional
Police, or government officials. These groups continuously receive increase in funding
and they should be capped.
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There are a lot of "hidden" increases in our bills...water, hydro, etc. City employee
salaries have risen faster than the average wage. I hear of termination of top
employees all the time and know there are costly payouts associated with this. Work
with your people. With all the new condos being built and tax revenues being
generated by them our taxes should not have to increase every year.
I think a 3 percent increaseor even 3.5% wouldn't be unreasonable. if it's 30-35 per
month I would pay if the city looked nicer and was nicer
Tax is always tax.
But as the city nibs on taxpayer's money for its operation, kindly also take due
initiatives to mitigate the rising inflation, help lobby for the corresponding wage
increase, curb job lay-offs.
Where specifically is this money needed? Why the increase (ie inflation?) Are there
new parks to maintain? The last neighbourhood city meeting we had, we were told
that there was no money to upgrade our local park, yet there are two large multi-home
projects going up within several blocks of one another. How is this concentrated
housing helping to increase the City’s tax base? Is this not contributing to the extra
funds required? Why is the snow plowing costing more? Will the City be using these
funds to possibly take the pilot project of shovelling sidewalks to a full scale city wide
program?
Cost of inflation (CPI) on Stat Can is 2.2%, but wages do not increase that much. Cost
of other items such as water, gas etc also increased.
Tax increase should be much higher in these economic boom times to pay off debt to
be better positioned for future economic slowdown.
Over the years Council has been pretty proud of the increase in assessment due to
the LRT, let alone the new growth in the southern /eastern / western parts of the City.
Massive structures have mushroomed out of the ground in past years and there will be
more to come in future years in the downtown. When do the ratepayers see the
monetary value of that assessment growth. The 2.2% tax levy increase is after
assessment growth so what is the budget increase before assessment growth, well
beyond the rate of inflation.
Why should I have to pay for an increase for services that have been reduced such as
garbage pick up? Snow removal in my area is pretty much non-existant so again, why
should I pay an increasefor that service?
I think the city needs to look at present practice and making improvements there first.
There can be some reorganizing and making sure any contractors are competitively
pricing. Is the right oversight there within the city!
I would be happy to pay a higher increase in my property taxes and so would the
family and friends I’ve talked to about this issus
Tax more and provide more services.
Snow removal
I that the city's legal department is aware of the new president in the courts about
shoveling snow down to bear concrete,the thaw freeze cycle and black ice.they also
address who is responsible
I think we could sustain a larger increase to fund significant service deliver
improvements like sidewalk plowing, climate action, protected & connected active
transportation networks!
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Snow plowing/clearing is very important. Tax as much as needed to bring city-handled
sidewalk clearing to fruition, please.
Please cancel the sidewalk removal, I rather do it myself.
I have no problem paying the increase but once again I feel that paying the increase
for pilot projects a waste of resources. How much extra is it costing to have a different
plow do the bike lanes,neighbourhood sidewalks? That could have put a few extra
plows on the road.
I wish our leaders would evaluate all our services and see if some can be reduced or
cut back. Maybe hire a Materials Management person that can drive costs down with
competitive quotes so the city's costs can reduce and we do not have to pay more
taxes. The city asked if I would be OK having my sidewalks cleared and would I be in
favour of paying more taxes to have that done? I am not in favour or paying more
taxes to have someone do a job I can do myself. Why do we look at services that cost
the homeowner more instead of cutting back other services? There are so many
services that I do not use including the LRT but I have to pay taxes to support these
services that I will never use. I am told that at the end of the budget year, If a
department has fundsthey have not spent they go and spend them or their funds will
be reduced next year. This kind of budget builds in fat and then my money is spent on
items that are not needed. Can you stop this kind of wasteful budget spending from
happening?
I would like to see the increase go up to $40 per average home, and include plowing
of city sidewalks.
If it can be put towards clearing pedestrian pathways and bus stops (without waiting
for 72 hours for snow to stop before plowing - most of us have to leave the house and
take the bus while it is still snowing and cannot wait 72 hours after the snow has
stopped). The struggles of the elderly, disabled and parents with buggies trying to get
on/off the bus is just inhumane.
it wouldn't be bad if you actually provided useful services. Every homeowner who pays
taxes should have their sidewalks cleared. There is no consistency with sidewalk
clearing. Some are cleared and some aren't. If the city provided all walks cleared then
we would all be confident in the safety of using them. That would be a good use of tax
payer funds.
would pay more for sidewalk clearing, very inconvenient
Would really like to see the sidewalk clearing done by the city. Very happy to have this
slight raise in taxes to do it!
pending additional services are being provided. eg: expand the pilot project of snow
removal on sidewalks.
The price of homes in Kitchener has increased drastically in the past few years. Has
this not increased the overall revenue collected from taxpayers? The city should be
clearing the sidewalks, particularly in transportation hub areas of the city to ensure
that sidewalks are passable by pedestrians.
Resonable if there are increases to service. (ie sidewalks)
Not thinking it a wise use of tax payers money to plow bike lanes when very few
people use the bike lanes in Kitchener (except for maybe uptown) in the winter.
However, many of the walking trails are not maintained in the winter when many
people are stillwalking. It is often difficult to walk, especially on side roads with no
sidewalks when the road is not sufficiently cleared of snow and ice. Recently we were
unable to walk around the neighbourhood due to the amount of ice on the roads.
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As long as sidewalks and roads actually get plowed. A lot of non-downtown areas are
hard to traverse.
I disagree with taxes being used to clear sidewalks at parks but not the neighborhood
they will drive on the road just to clear sidewalks around parks
Add snow shovelling to that list :).
Transportation/Transit
put the tax levy on cars as a big portion of the budget goes into road/parking for cars
I already explained everything in the previous section.
what difference will this makes? do to the new light rail I see longer car lines in the
road, I had to move from public to private transit. Not only that but thanks to that many
business have to close in the downtown area without the proper compensation (This is
taking good care of out citizens and our community) what happened to the increase of
0.75 by2019????? now we are at 2%???? From what I have hear, this LRT system
only works for those who are mostly rentals and not property owners, most of the
people that use bus are now turning to small cars as it is becoming more convenient
to our new lifestyles its right there when you need it and dont have to walk 900 meters
and wait to be pick up
I would accept a slight higher increase for improved facilities and road reconstruction.
Environment/Sustainability
If the funds are used for green projecst I totally agree and support it
I'm tempted to click on "unreasonable" because I actually think the increase should be
more than inflation. In a climate emergency (declared by Council this year) and an
affordable housing crisis, we can't stick with the status quo of 'inflation' equal
increases. We must take action on these issues and that may come with higher tax
increases. Let's look at ways to provide support for those who can not manage an
increase but many of us can and we need to take action on these important issues.
General Feedback
Reduce fire department budget.
I believe it should be higher to offer better services and help arts groups
We pay for a fire department, and we also pay for fire prevention officers. Is that not
considered overkill? Why are fire prevention officers making over $100,000 per year?
This is out of touch with what the private sector pays. Government jobs at tax payer
expense should not be the jobs that are the envy of the average tax payer. The
average tax payer doesn't make that kind of money, nor do they get those types of
benefits. We are making City of Kitchener employees live at a level that is well above
the very people they are supposed to serve. This is not right.
The roads are horrible. Cracks and pot holes everywhere, causing us to have no
choice but to hit them and damage our vehicles causing us more money to pay to fix it
ontop of the taxes we pay.
I am unsatisfied with the increase due to policing expenditures, with focus on the
unsanctioned post-secondary parties on Ezra. I would like to see regional
collaboration on solutions that divert participation in unsanctioned events and direct
that revenue flow positively (& away from mitigation measures by emergency
services).
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I wouldn't mind tax increases if it was spent properly. It is not spent properly.
Only if parks are maintained year-round for pedestrian access and snow plowing
includes maintaining bike lanesand paths to the same standard as roads..
Please increase taxes for much needed items such as pools not bicycle lanes or city
hall enhancements such as Carl zehr square
Fire protection? Snow plowing? The plows don't come down my street only after all
the snow is packed down. Why are we off the streets between 2:30 and 6 if the plows
aren't running until late morning or the afternoon?
Fire services budget probably includes leapfrogging bloat -municipalities
match/exceed each others' contracts every bargaining period and the budget just
eternally increases.
Well, fire protection they are well paid they shouldn't have an increase every year and
the snow plowing that they going around on dayes where there's no snow nothing they
should save those days andnot waste the money.
Great if you allow parking overnight like Waterloo 15 passes par licences plate per
year
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3)How do you feel about the proposed 4.4% utility rate increase for water, sanitary, and
stormwater?
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4)Which statement best describes your attitude towards the city’s service levels and
property tax increases?
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Comments:
City Finances
I don't like the options for this answer. Where is I am fine with present service levels
and don't wish to pay more?
A little more, emphasis on "little".
Can we get rid of things that are underutilized and repurpose the funding towards over
subscribed services or pay less.
Depends on the improvements, but if they align with my values I am willing to pay.
but I want you to stop paying for useless things
I want to maintain service maybe even boost it but they need to find money from
within. WE ARE NOT THEIR PERSONAL ATM’s
You didn't put in an option for "I want to pay the same rate and get the same services".
What happened to that one? Why must things constantly go up? Can't anyone there
budget to anticipate cost increases?
They could improve services and not raise the tax by cleaning house of management
and hire the people to do the work. Workers don't need 3 bosses to tell them how to
do the work!
None of the above apply. Service levels need improvement, but money is continually
wasted by the city!
You can't keep increasing the budget every year, why do you have to base everything
on inflation?
We're a growing city, dealing with our issues is more important than cheap taxes.
Honestly, those who aren't willing to contribute to their community who threaten to
leave because of high taxes can leave if they want.
Where is the option for keep service levels the same, and reduce costs?
Don’t give us a lot of options. For example, reducing budgets for advertising, parties,
etc. Just you can have more if you pay, not that we are willing to redistribute money.
None of the above. I want to maintain services levels and pay less.
If the "improvements" are actually improving what we currently have, I would be fine
with paying for it... but if any changes seem unnecessary I'd be irritated that my money
goes toward something I don't agree with.
Too many handouts
increase or add user fees for arenas, pools, sports fields, get rid of running golf
courses & CONTRACT THOSE OUT
I want to maintain service levels and maintain cost.
Third option -I want the same services and I willing to pay the same for them. Not
sure why additional funds are required as the level of service from the City appears to
be reducing rather than increasing.
Number of hose hold increased so much and if every new hose hold pay 4000+ why
still need so much extra
Reduce services please and let private enterprise meet our needs.
As above
You do not give any reasonable options here. Its very insulting.
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With wages frozen or increased by 1% it’s tough to ask citizens to pay double the
increase. Especially for the same services.
Fix the the under funding in services we already have before take on new projects.
I want to improve services and get better value for taxes. Paying more does not
always equate to better services.
Again, services are fine, but the level of employee remuneration far exceeds the
private sector. We could hire new hires for far less and still get value for our tax payer
dollars.
There are so many services I'd rather cut and am dismayed at how much the city
wants to continue spending. Like making people pay to have the city shovel our walks.
I don't want to pay for that. I don't have an endless stream of money to keep giving to
the city.
I have to think about this question! As I said, there are no perks for low income
earners, so they can have a night out with the family. It would only be a dream for
them. I guess I must question, how fair is that? How fair is it the people living on the
street do not have a place to lay their head. Not all of them, are there due to their
actions. Once I retire, I will be homeless, that is scary. I am just praying that somehow
I pass away before then, or a miracle happens.
Use $$ wisely and controlcosts. Why not contractually charge contractors when the
run over instead of holding us hostage?
I cannot afford to pay more -you are going to drive us to tent cities
I think the property tax increase is insane as we pay enough in property tax and real
estate affordability as it is. Decrease the number of foreign buyers so actual citizens
can afford housing in their own city.
I want to maintain service levels and pay the same was not an option.
Neither. How do you expect for our wages not to be increased but food, transportation,
housing and everything increase in price plus property taxes. You are not leaving us
with any money to be able to save at all. Both parents working and at the end no
money saved for the future or even a house.
i'm not sure any of these statements "best describes" my attitude. I am looking for the
City to find efficiencies to MAINTAIN service levels, and MINIMIZE tax increases.
Are there ways the city can become more efficient in managing and delivering
services?
none of the above. The government can redistribute funds in accordance to what the
public demands. Maintaining or improving service levels do not necessarily translate
to an increase in taxes. This is done through simple budgeting. This question and the
provided answers is biased.
There shouldnt be an increase in property taxes when kitchener residents can barely
buy a home. More needs to be done to keep our resident's in housing. Allowing people
from Toronto to bid high and increase our real estate is unfair. Our wages dont reflect
those of Toronto residents.
I do not see a comment area on the next screen for water so I will comment here.
In 2001 I paid $297.97 for the year and used 198 cubic meters of water.
In 2017 I paid $646.89 for the year and used 111cubic meters of water.
I did my part and reduced my water usage by almost half.
You can see that my cost more than doubled in that period of time.
My source of income did not double in that time period.
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How fair is that?
If I use a 1.5% cost of living increase for the above 16 years the cost would be
$383.79 for the 2017 year.
Please look at cost reductions before telling me I have to pay another increase.
Thankyou
Snow removal
Particularly interested in the city plowing all sidewalks. Paying that through taxes
seems so logical and equitable and ensures ease for children walking to school and
people getting around on buses and such.
See previous comment re sidewalk plowing.
Iwouldn't mind paying a little more to have the sidewalks cleaned by the city in the
winter. Instead of these tractors running the roads, cleaning the city owned areas only,
and then driving back 2 hours later, they could be more productive with their timeby
actually cleaning the sidewalks. My neighbourhood is predominantly seniors and I
suffer with arthritis but not everyone can afford to hire a private company to
shovel/plough.
snow removal is a huge issue with the LRT in place. how can you use it if you have to
wade through a snow bank to get there. The city should do sidewalks as well as roads
I am very excited about the sidewalk snow clearing pilot and would love to see this
continue. Sidewalk snow clearing will go such a long way to making our city more
accessible and making car-free transits more appealing and feasible.
DO NOT PLOW RESIDENTIAL SIDEWALKS. this should continue to be the
responsibility of the homeowner with better proactive enforcement
Government is supposed to provide for the safety of all, not just some of the residents.
Make clearing the sidewalks in the winter time a priority and responsibility of the
government. All homeowners would actually get a benefit from the property taxes
they pay.
snow sidewalk clearing for seniors willing to pay a little more for side walk clearing to
bare concrete
add city-wide sidewalk snow removal to our taxes.
Totally in support of sidewalk snow clearing and will pay more taxes for this. I don’t
want to see my neighbours stuck in the snowwith walkers, strollers, wheelchairs, or
scooters.
Transportation/Transit
charge cars for their fair share of use of services
Improvement scope -traffic management.
Specially Edna exit to the highway.
The LRT is a luxury that residents cannot afford right now.
Include road parking
More money invested into cycling infrastructure would be a huge plus. Also more
money invested into walking paths that might connectthe major areas of the city. Re-
Pavingthe paths for victoria park would be nice. Maybe a dedicated security team
(two people) that patrols the area as well. A lot of unsavoury folk hang out on the back
part of the iron horse and trickle into the park.
IF1 - 27
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Roads in Kitchener are in bad shape. Example: International drive / ottawa -Sun Rise
Shopping center onwards Ottawa St is in bad shape. Construction takes way too long,
months for small stretches of roads. The ION is useless for me.
I’m disappointed that our taxes are being raised for services that I don’t even use. But
what I would like to see is the road and sidewalks on Guelph st to be updated I would
agree to pay more taxes if Benifits me
Environment/Sustainability
Increased Service levels seem to only produce more Co2. Like this stupid idea of
buying expensive equipment to shovel the sidewalks. Turn the clock back.
I think a lot of effort should be put into water and gas savings through advertising how
to minimize our overuse of water especially.
General Feedback
More bylaw for trash, sidewalk clearance and the overall services of our city are
important so I am willing to pay a little more for this.
Our city is growing, and we have challenges, we must increase services in some
areas to keepup with growth. For example, sidewalk clearing could easily have been
afforded, given the very low tax increase planned this year.
I'm always willing to pay more, especially to support those that can't. However, the fire
department does not need more funding, just restructuring to save money.
I am fine to pay more if we see benefit. If I have to pay more but still have to bring my
neice and nephew to a old broken park climbing equipment with needles around and
individuals high on meth -well then I don't want higher taxes
There's an option missing. There should be one that says, "I want to see my taxes
used more efficiently and payless, while maintaining services."
match wage inflation
I would be fine with all the profits from natural gas going to pay for sewers and water
services that are behind schedule. In a way they are kind of related due to location.
I would like to see improvements to winter accessibility for caregivers, handicapped
people, elderly folks who need to get outside, etc. Even a small minority of houses can
spoil an entire street of sidewalk. We need the city to upload this responsibility, at
least on main corridors.
Additionally, city owned utilities are increasing in cost higher than property taxes,
placing a higher burden on renting households, something that the city could perhaps
consider in allocating budget (please ignore if mistaken).
I'd like the city to invest into more frequent bus service to enable citizens to take better
advantage of public transit
Decisions to maintain closed bidding and adding the unnecessary expense by
declaring we are in a climate emergency does not bode well for cost control. paying
more because of these two situations is unwarranted.
I want to improve service/maintain service levels and pay less.
I am willing to pay, but I want to see direct improvements. We need to do more to
protect and assist community members without access to proper shelter and food.
Fewer breaks for persons owning multiple properties (especially for purposes of
income) and more breaks for people in need of shelter.
IF1 - 28
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I have seen up close many of the projects and services the city has provided through
our property taxes and I am happy to see an increase in taxes if it means additional or
improved services, especially those that will best support our most vulnerable citizens.
As long as it’s to improve what we really actually need. Repairing sidewalks,roads,
older recreational facilities. Not things that we can do personally. Raking the leaves
to the end of the road when we have leaf pickup every two weeks and drop offs.
Only when the service is first responders or transit
We understand that it takes money for extra services,but putting 6 million to spruce up
parks for what??More needles,needle caps, alcohol wrappers,then the lovely bloody
alchohal pads all over our city which everyone pretends they don't see?!!? Oh I
almost forgot then the saline containers for addicts which are homeless and probably
also mentally ill . Oh one more question? Why would you pull all garbage cans in our
city In the winter? What garbagedoesn't accumulate all year??? You must not get
out much if you truly believe that we live in a clean and safe environment.
Only if the services are being closely monitored and used correctly
Ok, in fairness I did not see this question before criticizing the framing of the first. I still
think that the first question will have ambiguous results since people could potentially
respond negatively to the options either because they want no tax raise or because
they believe it is not sufficient. So I would think that this question will lead to more
informative answers than the first.
Fire Dept.is not good stewards of money. Amalgamate all 7 departments
The is not a category for improving efficiency without paying more. Not considered
possible?
Taxes should be increased, but more to avoid taking on debt, to pay off debt, and to
make accelerate investment to address infrastructure issues.
Again, service levels have already been reduced and every year there is still a tax
increase.
I picked the first one but I am not in agreement with it. My recommendation is to pay
less and keepor add service levels after reviewing pricing and making any changes
there. Not sure why we couldn't pick that one as an option and why it's not on the
table. Do you even know?
Again, only if it's specifically for infrastructure improvements
We pay some of the lowest municipal taxes in the province, so there is room to
increase service levels in a thoughtful way. Services increases should promote
affordability, equity, and commitment to climate action.
I am concerned about the growth downtown specifically around public service, with
more growth we need police fire ambulance schools and hospital to be ready. I do
realize that you don’t fund them all but it must be said
I am all for maintaining levels. I would like to see improvements without exorbitant
increases.
Public transportation, environmental focus, caring for homelessness and helping
individuals with addiction issues are worth paying extra for improved services for the
most vulnerable
Parks and rec are the main killers by department. But overall, staff remuneration has
to be curtailed. The financial pecking order is millions, followed by public servants,
then there's us poor working slobs. Keep it up and the public servants will have no
pockets to pick. Everyone where I work are of the same opinion.
IF1 - 29
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What services?
park architecture and landscaping/new parks should all be reduced.
To be honest, I'm not fully aware of what all the service levels are but overall, my
experience has been positive.
Services can remain without the waste and constant injection of more funds. Think of
it as your money, not an endless tax fountain.
Service should also come with convenience, unlike the LRT. The city should also
amplify its efforts on education, skill training, and affordable housing.
Since payingmore in this city does not improve service levels (GRT service is useless
if you live in a suburb like Active) I would rather not pay more. UNLESS the budget
was handled smarter to accommodate the highest taxpayers (improve public
transportation in suburbs so people who drive one person per car to work can actually
afford to bus instead)
IF1 - 30
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5)Select your funding options for the $360,000 available in the operating budget. Do
you have any comments about the options you’ve selected?
Operating BudgetVotes
Option A - $0148
Community Grants
Option B - $22k159
Option C - $39k169
Total
476
Option A – Conserve and Protect- $50,000135
Sustainable Urban
Option B – Risk Mitigation & Inspection - $100,000156
Forest Strategy
Option C – Tree Pruning / Proactive Maintenance - $200,000118
Option D – Nothing59
Total
468
Option A - Contribution to ALL IN - $75,00093
Affordable Housing
Option B - Contribution to All IN and $50,000 for quick wins - $125,000132
Strategy
Option C - Contribution to ALL IN and $125,000 for quick wins - $200,000138
Option D – Nothing
100
Total
463
Expanding Leisure
Option A - $0277
Access Program
Option B - Leisure Access to cover Neighbourhood Association Fees - $143,000154
Total
431
Comments:
Environment/Sustainability
Fund X initiatives for a reduction of Y tonnes of CO2 annually -hard No.
Paying money for emissions doesn't make it go away. Make the big polluters pay.
Make laws to ban plastic packaging.
Climate change is a joke. Unless others around the world take action we are just
wasting our money. Why not use the money elsewhere such as on green space,
redevelopment of our downtown, and public transit
I think it's fine to have a separately funded climate action plan, but the entirety of the
city's budget and policies should reflect climate priorities, in particular transportation
and housing.
Climate change has to be dealt with -allocate the money there.
Plans that make things look better or make the lives of the middle class better are far
less important than funding for the most vulnerable and addressing climate change.
I'd like to see as much as possible go into Corporate Climate Action plan.
This is the way to go. You’ve seen the results from love my hood. I know the
counsellors haven’t but hey never will because they’re hopeless. Let’s go fully electric
across the city and get solar panels and wind turbines on city properties
Not enough forclimate change
I'd like to give more to reduce CO2, but it takes me slightly above budget.
I would support additional funding for sustainability initiatives -this is my number one
priority.
IF1 - 31
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In addition to improvements to the way City facilities emit carbon, I would like to see
businesses and corporations in Kitchener be held accountable for their carbon
emissions.
The climate action plan adds Co2. Stopped traffic for a couple of bikes using bike
lanes that take away lanes to move traffic along. The use of concrete curbs on side
streets. 1 tonne of concrete produces 1.25 tonnes of Co2. Do the math. Tell staff to
turn off city owned cars, while parked. Laptops will still be powered on.
I'm very excited to see the action that Kitchener is taking on reducing CO2 emissions!
Encouraging people to use our FANTASTIC public transportation system and
walking/cycling network is more important to me than city vehicle upgrades.
Focus on climate action plans at all levels --personal, neighbourhood, corporate and
government please. The province is letting us down by cancelling and defunding any
and all climate initiatives, so we must all work towards protecting and improving the
climate.
Climate action is a must. Neighbourhood grants and actions to better the
neighbourhood is also important.
Protecting the environment is most important to me. The costs of Participatory
Budgeting seem very expensive. I would support trying this initiative, but there needs
to be a way to reduce costs or to reduce staff levels to make this initiative affordable.
This money would be better spent on "Love My Hood."
Co2 is not the issue for Canada. Kitchener cannot impact the world climate. Focus on
cleaning the streets and waterways, carbon tax is a joke.
As one of the larger cities in Ontario, we have an opportunity to demonstrate climate
change leadership.
While I feel the environment is an important issue, I believe monies can be found to do
this work. Other levels of government and large business in the community.
Community building is very important to the growth of our city and often displaced
within budgets. Without strong neighbourhoods our city is weaker and less
productive.
The city should help neighbourhoods develop climate action plans. ie provide
evidence -based solutions for reducing neighbourhood carbon --narrowing roadways
to include foot and bike and wheelchair traffic, creating small parks/adding
greenspaces by removing parking lots,
The Corporate Climate Action Plan is a token attempt to deal with the climate. It is a
political buzz word phrase. I feel that Canada has enough trees to deal with our tiny
contribution of CO2.
Allocate the remaining funds to climate initiative. Your proposed numbers are not high
enough.
Climate change is critical. We need to avoid getting smog issues as in Toronto.
People move here for better quality of life.
additional funds should be allocated to climate action. Do not agree with participatory
budgeting.
the balance should to to Corporate Climate Action Plan
Corporations should be participating and funding their own plans. They're paying out
enough at the top that they can afford it easily enough. Enact punitive measures that
punish corporate assets for failure to demonstrate commitment to climate action.
IF1 - 32
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Again, I have gone slightly over the allocated amount, but I think the allocated amount
should be higher. Option C for corporate climate action plan should be the only way
forward if council is indeed serious about declaring a climate emergency.
A lot more needs to be done environmentally.
More initiatives on CO2 reduction and tree planting
It is my understanding that capital projects that have a pay-back period of greaterthan
7 years are not feasible and should not be constructed. Yet there are four projects
with a pay-back period of greater than 10 years. Are there not any other projects in
the Corporate Climate Action Plan that are worthy of funding? If not then redirect
funding to the purchase of more electric vehicles.
I would easily support more funding to go to the Climate initiatives.
I think all of these issues are important, however without a planet to live on, no other
problem matters. We need to focus 100% of our efforts on ensuring the health of our
Earth which we are lucky enough to inhabit. Our house is on fire and we are trying to
learn new fire prevention strategies instead of just trying to put it out. When we can
wrap the climate crisis around our thick skulls, THEN we can focus on things like
affordable housing. No one is going to be buying a house if we have no more
resources on Earth. PRIORITIES!
A focus needs to happen on climate change and how to mitigate/deal with the issues
from that. This willinclude rising flooding events, more severe storms, and heat
waves. The money remaining should be saved for future use.
The climate action plan should be oriented towards consumers and not businesses.
Make it easier to retrofit our homes, purchase solar panels & electric cars.
Climate action is the number one priority. Council and staff need listen to public for
participatory budgeting, do not need to spend $3,000,000
Considering Kitchener has declared a climate emergency, reducing carbon emissions
should always be prioritized over funding feel-good community projects.
City Finances
I have seen a lot of waste in the love my hood program. Needs more oversight or
tighter guidelines. Paintings on abandoned houses that are then torn down??
Love my hood is nice to have but not needed. Cut it entirely.
O.k. Lets add this to the other $360,00.00 we've put into reserve. Lets also invest this
at a moderate 4%. Now in 5 years we will have over 17.5 million plus interest. We will
of course have advertised this to the city as a way to put us ahead of how the rest of
the world does it. We don't spend what we don't have only using surplus that is
generated by interest. What a concept.
Stop spending money
I would recommend slightly modifying the participatory budget numbers to get under
budget target
Please return this money to us.
Improvements are not based on funding. Throwing money at projects does not
necessarily improve the city. For example Queen Street does not have to be rebuilt
again thinking that this excess spending will produce the new popular destination.
Quit wasting our money, no need to raise our taxes allocate properly instead of
wasting it.
IF1 - 33
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These are the types of funds that should have gone into the reserve fund so you
wouldn't have to propose a 4.4% increase in utility rates.
Again I don't think it would be difficult to find the extra money,how about the CEOs
and bigwigs who have forgotten what it is to be a working poor individual to take some
of there bull****bonus money and take it and put it where it should have always been
back in ontarians pockets would be a great start! Oh by the way plus you bigwigs
forget without 'US' little people you enjoy belittling so much,what would you do without
US? Without us doing allthe ****work that you feel you people are to good to
do,without us you would not have your lavish lifestyles or take your fancy first class
flight on our tax dollars!!!!!!!!
None of these initiatives do anything other than distract from core services that we
keep hearing are chronically underfunded. If all our infrastructure is truly falling apart,
budget for that, not this feel-good touchy-feely stuff.
these do not benefit the citizens of the city, focus on more appropriate capital
additions
Give spending a break and concentrate on core services
Please focus on the basics and cut the frills. We cannot afford increases from city and
region and police budgets ballooning every year. Stop wasting money and asking for
more.
Use these funds to pay downdebt.
Public participation on how the treasury is spent is extremely important. Many tax
payers feel cheated because their dollars are taken and wasted. Priorities will differ
depending on the neighborhood, but there needs to be far more options for tax payers
to get involved before bureaucrats dream up clever and creative ways to spend our
money like ludicrous bike lanes right next to an existing pathway that is off the road
like in Forest Heights and down Queen Street, and along Belmont. Governments
have shown time and again that they can spend tax dollars faster than anyone. A
corporate climate action plan is far beyond what the local government levels should be
engaged in. While these goals for electric vehicles etc. are wonderful and feel good
items,they should only be replaced as needed when service vehicles are already
being replaced. Spending extra dollars on these items to make tree hugers feel good
is NOT the highest and best use of tax payer dollars.
frivolous waste of money -wait for surplusand DO NOT SPEND
must keep a reserve fund and grow the reserve fund for emergencies.
total waste of money
Stop placing "funds" in future reserves. Stop igniting these unnecessary projects that a
majority of the population does not need, nor care for.We need to stop finding "new"
ways to burn the tax money that is taken from Ontario citizens. This is ridiculous.
Participatory budgeting sounds like you're taking my money first, then inventing ways
to spend it! No thanks.
Transportation/Transit
traffic calming not useful, adds obstacles to essential services, makes road services
less safe
All these options are just a waste of good money. All available budget has to be spent
on improving major streets pavement quality and removal of all bike lanes and
IF1 - 34
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replacing all 2+ lane roundabouts with regular intersections with street lights. And a
little bit more for better lighting of those streets for safer driving.
Maintain roads in the city
Why not forward the leftover money to the Operations budget? Existing balances from
Capital have been used before for this. Where is the option to improve trail
connections? Replace some old boardwalks that are in disrepair!
the rest can go towards the 'budget' for street ploughing.
put the money on the roads thatthe most emergency.
Affordable Housing
Affordable housing. People who need housing are on wait lists that take six to eights
year. How is that okay? These people need help and are reaching out for help - but
end up being told sorry you have to maintainyour current state for another eight
years. How do we expect someone to get clean, and pick themselves up when they
don't even have a roof over their head???
All the 'participatory budgeting' has to go to low cost affordable housing creation.
Immediatelyand to the highest possible level!
Provide and ensure safe clean housing of 2-4 bedrooms below 1500$ per month.
Snow removal
I would like to see sidewalks of major streets in the vicinity of LRT stations and other
segments with high levels of pedestrian traffic covered with protective roofs. This
would greatly reduce the need for snow shoveling and salt application, while making
sidewalk use more pleasant during rain and snow. Roofs could be clear glass, or
perhaps solar panels. In windy areas, snow fences or shrubbery might be desirable to
reduce snow drifting.
Maybe some sidewalk plows instead of participatory budgeting? Or more to climate
mitigation (which sidewalk clearing would also help with) given that is the greatest
challenge facing our world today.
General Feedback
I have messed around with the numbers here and cannot seem to come up with a
combo that is just under the max. This response at least gives you my general
impression. I think the Love My Hood initiative should require less funding over time
with the impactmore noted in the near term. should
A very quick win to utilize these funds for improvement in infrastructure. These are all
'pet projects' that we can not afford.
I am not a city planner nor an expert on climate change. Why are you asking my
uninformed opinion on this? I'm concerned Participatory Budgeting is a passing fad,
but you're using it to make major decisions. That's frightening.
Love my hood -the funding shown is not the whole picture. In addition to this funding
is the difference between the cost of the existing part time staff and the 6 FTEs being
funded through departmental budgets and that total does not appear here. Likely to
the tune of 40k per year each including benefits which equals $240,000.00 annually.
This total does not include office space, desks and materials. I chose 300,000 per
year for 3 years to "see how it goes" and then the option of changing the funding
amount is still there. To lock in for 10 years may serve to undermine the program in
IF1 - 35
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the long term if interim changes need to be made and can't be due to the budget being
set.
You need to look inside the Corporation, Look for savings in operating and capital.
Downtown Community centre
10 years seems like a long time to lock in an amount. It would be nice to re-visit after 5
years and see what has occurred. Would love to see more of the budget for climate
action (rather more $ there than Love my Hood).
The remaining could be used on Participatory Budgeting
If the Love my hood requires more staffing which isnot included in these amounts we
must go with the lowest amounts to allow for the extra labour costs and truly reflect the
cost increases Reducing CO2 is a huge concern and will allow all residents a better
healthier life therefore saving us money down the road
Lovemyneighbourhood is the best thing the city has done for many years. More
money should be given to Neighbourhood a for their projects
As before I support doing what needs to be done not what would be nice to do. Let's
use our collective wisdom we were given.
test
Participatory Budgeting. Not any favoritism select 2/3 group project and get them
completed with in 3/4 years
Lovemyhood is the best thing the city has done in years. Fund it!
Finding for climate change is a joke, it's a money grab and nothing more. If you
wanted to do something conservation and retrofits to use grey water would help. But
would gouge your money for utilities and you'd charge more for that service, so stop
trying to make use pay for India and China polluting the earth
We should allocate more to climate change mitigation. This is the number one issue
facing our society.
The idea of love my hood is great. But giving tax money out to fund it is not as great. It
would be better if we enabled people to take initiative on theirown without taxpayer
funding. I strongly do not support spending money on carbon reduction. This is a
huge amount of money and it should be spent on improving land values in the city
instead.
I don’t understand this
This seems to be positive program but adding 6 FTE to maintain this program is too
much. The cost of administering it is more then the grants received. If it was a charity
it would be a failure in good practice. I cant support this program with the additional
admin costs.The GHG initiatives is just posturing. The ROI stinks and is not to the
advantage of taxpayers. The net effect is negligible. If you maintain the tree canopy
you will get visible results that would equal this
"Any excess funds will be kept in reserve to fund future capital priorities." or you could
cut the tax rate.
Again: poorly designed survey about these initiatives. Use results for "general interest"
only, not to make policy or funding decisions. Complexity and details create confusion.
No link to participatory budgeting details.
Thanks for laying out these options so clearly.
Not a good way to ask questions, too limiting.
1. what is 'participatory budgeting'
2. I love my neighbourhood -zero dollars because I love it just the way it is.
IF1 - 36
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Ifyou are going to increase funding for "Love My Hood", actually make it so you don't
need to be involved digitally. I would like to see participatory budgeting increased and
maybe cut in half so one half is for low to no income residents and the other is for
middle class/homeowners and up.
I would allocate the remaining funds towards Participatory Budgeting if an alternative
could be funded for this amount or increase the funding to Love my Hood.
Love my hood flogged people the ability to do much needed projects in their are. It is a
very good campaign that should continue
I LOVE 'Love my Hood' -take my money. I'm not negotiating on decreasing our CO2
budget but I believe that technology will change and so will some of our options.
I work in consultingand I believe the participatory budget is very high - just a
comment.
Put remainder in to parks...just short of the 1.5M I am sure they can think outside the
box at 1.25M
Two of the three options here were self-explanatory. Participatory budgeting is not
and took some effort to find, just FYI.
If we have declared a climate emergency then our approved budget should reflect this.
I remain frustrated that funds are approved for Love my Hood (a worthy initiative, I
know) and yet there is no additional staffing support for the Age-friendly Action Plan.
Staffing for Love my Hood could be used to support the AFK given the clear overlap in
interests/recommendations. I am assuming that the snow clearance pilots will result in
demands for funds to continue sidewalk/snow clearance in the future -a clear
demand from older adults consulted during the preparation of the AFK.
We wouldn't need to spend to build a sense of community or develop relationships
with our neighbours if we would only demand building ata human-centred scale. No
suburban single-family houses and no super larger towers. We need to keep
densifying our city, buy stop allowing so many single-family homes and super-tall
buildings (e.g. <8 storeys) and start demanding more 4-6 storey buildings. Super large
buildings have no sense of community; smaller building do. Eliminate minimum
parking requirements to make this type of development more economically viable.
We elect officials to make informed and responsible decisions. Public engagement
should be encouraged, but only to a point. Not every single detail needs to be decided
by surveys and referendums.
Use the savings for WIP
IF1 - 37
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6)Select your funding options for the $3,500,000 available in the capital budget. Do
you have any comments about the options you’ve selected?
Capital BudgetVotes
Option A – $150,000 per year for 10 years - $1,500,000196
Option B – $175,000 per year for 10 years - $1,750,00072
Love My Hood
Option C – $300,000 per year for 10 years - $3,000,00065
Option D – Nothing137
Total
470
Option A - Fund three initiatives for a reduction of 149 tonnes of CO2 annually - $207,00073
Corporate Climate
Option B - Fund five initiatives for a reduction of 218 tonnes of CO2 annually - $472,00096
Action Plan
Option C - Fund five initiatives for a reduction of 331 tonnes of CO2 annually - $957,000206
Option D – Nothing91
Total
466
Option A - $300,000 per year for three years - $900,000235
Participatory
Option B - $400,000 per year for three years - $1,200,00086
Budgeting
Option C - $300,000 per year for ten years - $3,000,00024
Option D – Nothing108
Total
453
Comments:
Affordable Housing
Budget should be spent on affordable housing, addiction treatments and social
services that support that population. Kitchener is in crisis and the money needs to
help those most in need.
Spend it all on affordable housing
Affordable housing in today's climate may be important, but realistically unattainable
due to legislation which prevents landlords from managing bad tenants effectively.
Homeless people need a lot of support to become good tenants. Throwing endless
amounts of money to combat a problem that needs to be fixed within the regulatory
frame work first, is foolish. First fix the legislation so that people are held responsible
for their actions, and then throw money at the problem. Community partners looking to
end homelessness should be working with landlords to provide housing and working
with community support workers to assist people transitioning off the street more
effectively, but firstly, the legal system needs to be remediedso that Landlords will
even want to take on the massive risks involved with allowing a former homeless
person into their rental.
Some people seem to choose to live on the street due to the issues at shelters. I think
that these people will need to be followed up, with major support, so the can live
successfully in a little home they would be offered.
In some cases as in mine, living on the pension as the only source of income, there is
NOTHING OUT THERE AFFORDABLE, and the waiting list as you would know is
years to get into some place. I am already 66, how long I can work, with my health
situation, is unknown. I am quite aware after that I WILL BE HOMELESS. I AM SO SO
SCARED.
The Prosperity Council stated the need for $3M annually ten years ago. $39,000
divided between the major groups is embarrassing. At $200,000 each year for 5 years
IF1 - 38
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Have masterplan for housing with Province and Feds at table
Some issues like affordable housing belong in th provincial and federal jurisdiction.
The City should manage developers to ensure that more housing is included in their
plans. Having taxpayers chase their tails with minimal funding only provides lip
service to an extensive problem. The urban tree care is long overdue. Funding for
community events should be carefully monitored to ensure value to taxpayers
If I had to choose between Tree Pruning and additional Housing Strategy quick wins, I
think housing is a more urgent issue with direct impact on well-being of individuals.
Affordable housing needs to be addressed but I feel it will just be used for immigration
and not actually help people who can't afford to live here anymore.
Tree pruning and proactive maintenance used to be included in the Forestry budget as
a regular part of their duties, what happened? As a conscientious community we need
to get our homeless off the street and provide a safe haven for them. We can worry
about the Leisure Access program once the homeless have been taken care of.
Your affordable housing selections do nothing to provide housing beside consult! Just
makes you look like you care. No real help
Affordable housing should have more funding; it is such an important community
issue.
If it's a choice between leasuire access and affordable housing pick affordable housing
every time as it has the bigger impact
There is NO NEED to give more to the homeless. We already have invested money
into a safe injection site and we have enough out of the cold programs to go around.
How about waterloo steps up and does something for once rather than just send the
homeless to Kitchener?
Have a program like the OESP to help people on welfare and disability pay for their
services. The only one of the 4 that should be municipal govt funded is trees
Affordable Housing is responsibility of the Regional and Provincial government (and is
a current crisis) - $50K for quick wins won't make a dent and sets precedent that this
is not the responsibility of province (ie dowloading to local government)
Shouldn't be mixing affordable housing strategy with the others...totally different and
separate conversation. I selected $22k for community grants, $200k for trees and $0
for housing strategy and the rest I wanted to put into leisure but the program did not
show me leisure options AT ALL in this configuration.
For the Affordable Housing Strategy, is there an option between the $50k and $125k
for quick wins? The rationale for a $75k increase isn’t clear. For the Urban forest
Strategy, does the proactive maintenance contribute to a reduction in green house
gases that could qualify for some of the capital investment?
Affordable housing is a very big issue in my mind. I love the Neighbourhood programs
but feel they are reasonably priced and low income earners could still afford to choose
one here and there, plus there are many free programs and drop-ins.
Instead of spending more money and building more concrete low income
neighborhoods, make the options we have now more affordable. There are plenty of
apartments and smaller housing complexes in Kitchener butthe cost has gone up.
Cost of living has gone up all around meaning affordability inevitably comes with it.
Less low income housing, more affordability with existing structures. Conserve and
protect the existing forests we have now. More pruning and traffic will mean more
pollution and traffic in wooded areas. Unless you can provide care for the forests and
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habitants in them. If so, then cleaner trees means cleaner better quality air for us to
breathe.
Kitchener will become a much less desirable place tolive if we don't tackle our
affordable housing crisis ASAP. I would prefer to see us legislate that developers must
develop a certain % of affordable housing units so that the large commercial real
estate developers pay for the costs of affordable housing.
PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE RISING AND CHRONIC HOMELESSNESS.
PLEASE. THIS IS A BASIC HUMAN DIGNITY PLEASE. It's a shame the results of
ending homelessness in 2020 as it presents there has been no further steps made in
to creating affordable housing. The aging population are ending in shelters due to the
lack of financial support and adequate housing for those on a fixed income such as
ODSP and OW. Very shameful as a city and country.
More for allocated to affordable housing
No more tent cities. There are a number of them at Bridgeport Ned and the
expressway. They leave a huge mess and constantly break into cars
We need to focus on affordable housing
Affordable Housing Strategy is very important to me. I feel that as a society we have
dropped the ball and we have to do better; starting NOW.
Housing is the most important. Conservation efforts are good too, but it shouldn't just
be about tree trimming but reducing carbon or free public transport for more city
members (anyone at or below LIM-AT)
1. Although I HEAVILY support the City supporting (through funding, staff support, etc)
more affordable and supportive housing efforts across Kitchener, but do not think that
ALLIN is an effective intervention for long-term impact,so cannot support this as a
funding option. I'd give any amount of remaining ongoing funding to quick wins alone
if that were an option to select.
2. The form did not load properly and wouldn't let me select a response for the Leisure
Access expansion, but I would choose "nothing - $0" if I could have. Although I greatly
support offering more equitable access to leisure programs and support for
neighbourhood led programming, I will listen to staff's recommendation in the Issue
Paper that this is not the right time to do it. Perhaps it can be revisited next year.The
balance should be devoted to the insufficient funding that arts & culture organizations
across the City currently receive. These organizations are vital to the residents of the
community and we should not be encouraging our own residents to leave our
community and travel to other municipalities to attend our A+C institutions.
The remaining $13k could go to further housing quick wins.
City needs to find away to move people out of tents in public areas and private lands.
We do not want to become like Peterborough. I believe the issue here is drug use. It is
a difficult problem and a solutions will be even more difficult. Safe use sites are a start
but that not in backyard mind set my be difficult. I have found several needles in my
backyard so a safe use site would be a preference for me.
Fix low income and social issues first and deal with the problem instead of making
expensive housing projects and burden on the tax payer to pay for it
I would have put some $ toward community grants if you eliminated places like Doon
South who feel they "deserve" so much more than other areas because they "pay the
highest taxes in the region". Getting very tired of taxpayer $ being handed to areas
that feel they deserve more when the older neighborhoods have provided taxpayer $
for many years to keep the city going. The city needs to put at LOT more $ into
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affordable housing because it breaks my heart to see older couples with no place to
live because their pensions do not cover the cost of rent any more in our city.
All In 2020 depends on low rental units to be able to house people. The community
housing list is currently close to 4000 for Kitchener. We need to pull every resource
into creation of low cost housing units that many programs, and lives depend on. Add
more to 'quick wins' for cheap housing from all available sources, including leisure
access program!
Make housing more affordable for first time homeowners within the region.
affordable housing is the number one issue in my demographic of recently graduated
students. without focus on this issue I will be forced to leave the kitchener area.
The cost of housing in this city is abysmal. We are seeing a massive spike in
homlessness, sheltersare busier than they have ever been and we still have people
street sleeping. aThe cost of renting a has become increasingly unaffordable,
affordable homes for single people are almost impossible to find, and the wait lists for
affordable housing are years long and difficult to navigate.
Even with a salaried job, in order to afford rent in this city, I must allocate 65% of my
gross income.
Lack of affordable housing is robbing the dignity of residents and creating ghettos
instead of blended development. Fix that, and the city will reap the benefits.
38,000 for leisure access. Affordable housing isincredibly urgent though. I am on
ODSP. We are treated like second class citizens and it is becoming increasingly
difficult to find rentals in Kitchener or Waterloo. Soon I will be forced to look for
another city to live in because costs in Kitchener are insane for people in the poverty
bracket.
Environment/Sustainability
re: Urban Forest Strategy -allow residents to take on the care and management of
cityowned trees on their front lawns when they desire to. I live in an older
neighborhood full of mature trees and a number of residents would happily pay to
have the trees pruned, but arborists won't touch them because they are on city
property (and these trees are not priority for the city)
you planted thousands of trees on residential boulevards, and you didn't rake into
account the damage they have caused to sidewalks, roads, drainage systems, but you
should have built in the constant tree pruning into the status quo... we shouldn't have
to pay extra for that. We have sidewalks that you can't walk along unless you are
shorter than 5'.
I don't think we need proactive maintenance on the tree program right now. I believe
that the complaint driven approach is successful. Also, I don't fully understand the
concept of 'quick wins' for affordable housing - but I do believe we should allocate as
much as we can to this initiative
Urban forest management is investment in green infrastructure and will save us
money long term
The remaining $3000 to go towards the Sustainable Urban Forest Strategy
I beleive keeping a sustainable Urban Forest area and green spaces is so curcial and
would like this to be an important factor in budget decisions.
Require developers to care for trees on their properties for at least 10 years. For
example, if a developer plants a new tree as part of a new development they must
nurture and care for the tree for at least 10 years. If the tree dies before that time they
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must replace it IMMEDIATELY with a tree of a similar age. Raise taxes enough to
allow everyone free access to all programs all year-round; lots of societal benefits.
Please use this funding for water and sewer replacement maintenance. Stop the frills.
Think of it as your home budget and you could not ask for any increase. I would love
new furniture but cannot afford it because I need a new roof.
The City has been very generous in areas such as leisure access in the past and
housing. This needs to be a federal or provincial matter. We have major infrastructure
issues to address which will impact all of us if we don't make this a priority. There is
no end to a wish list for the city as well as all of us.
I would like to know whether the backyard tree subsidy program was more financially
efficient than planting on public land for improving city canopy. How much do they cost
per tree, and how healthy are they? If our trees on public land need to be protected
and improved, that's where money should go first.
I would like to see more efforts on creating or preserving large areas of forested areas
similar to the Huron Natural Area. With the growth in population the City of Kitchener
is seeing and subsequent expansion of housing and retail areas, this takes a great
deal away from our natural areas and wildlife. Let's be good stewards of nature and
the environment as well as taking care of our citizens.
Iwish to reduce the amount of money spent on social programs. I do support
maintenance of the city’s trees but I assume there is already a budget for that (it is not
well communicated here)
I believe a focus on our homelessness in the community should be a priority, as well
as ensuring our urban forest strategy is looked after. The remaining funds should be
saved for future use.
I would wish a balanced budget of $360,000. Back to housing and forestry @ $20,000
less than asked each.
Focus on the environment and adding solar and wind power generation to city
facilities. Spread less on city colourful brochure advertisement.
Preserving hiking trails and publically available green spaces is most important to me.
I see that it's a little over budget, but in my opinion it would be worth finding an
additional $4000 to do ALL THAT STUFF!! With the climate and housing crises
coming (if you don't already consider them here) the neighborhood associations can
take a back seat for now.
City Finances
O.k Theoretically we now have $360,000.00 banked. Lets invest this into something
that we can get about 4% interest in. Now, lets do this for every non essential
program that the city offers. Lets promote this to the city. That in order to get the city
debt non-dependant, we must do this for 5 years at which time the city will have a
reserve it can use to do all the things it wants. This city is resilient. They will
understand and rally around council who is prepared to try and stop the bleed. Lets
show the world that Kitchener truly is a tech hub that knows how to think outside the
box.
Quit blowing money on nonessential frills.
Issue a refund to the tax payers.
I am pretty sure that you can find more money from other resources. Having us
choose between major things needed for our city seems unfair. Being more efficient
at certain jobs in the city, decreasing road maintenance and allocating that money
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towards people without homes and improving the air we breathe seems like it should
be a real priority.
Your tax rates are driving me out of the area. REDUCE spending!!!
Use my unused money to lower my taxes that fund unnecessary things.
Save it.
Stop wasting ourtax money on unnecessary expansions.
in a year where you are proposing a 4.4% increase in utility rates, i think council needs
to make some hard choices to eliminate or cut back on some other services.
Reduction in spending.
Snow removal
Stop wasting our money. Put it toward snow removal for all sidewalks in the city.
re-allocate the balance to snow removal services on sidewalks to help improve
sidewalk conditions for those with mobility issues (eg: those with wheelchairs &
elderly)
This should include snow removal on sidewalks. We also need to deal with low
income housing or rent towards income
We should start doing sidewalk clearing. It's absolutely essential both for the health
and safety of our city, and to leveraging other investments like LRT. Property owners
do not reliably clear sidewalks, reliability is the only way we can be sure one can get
around safely in the winter.
Transportation/Transit
this money should be spent to fix the roads they look terrible.
Road upgrade.
More should be done for suburb access to downtown and uptown. The LRT only
supports a small number of people in our region.
General Feedback
This was challenging, setting priorities. Thanks for the chance to have input.
I would like to see the rest ofthis money go back to help reduce the tax levy
Obviously this is not a viable option. I'm perplexed as to why the options are $0 OR
$143,000 for expanding the Leisure Access Program, though. Maybe a small
expansion is fine, or use the remaining money to subsidize underused community
centers to create spaces for free community use?
I am over budget. I know your pain.
Use these funds to pay down debt!
I don't believe this is well thought out and thus cannot select an answer. I feel its just
bullpoo with no actual outcome planned.
This is a bad example. The allocation of funds is not this simplistic.
Population growth should take care of themselves in taxes paid.
Builders should be funding new schools and parks in the per capita + kilometers
calculation.
save this money for needed services and wait until there is a surplus -we cannot cope
with any more tax !!!
Quit wasting money and then you wouldn't have to raise or rates!
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take funds from road (car) infrastructure
The billions spent on the outdated ION train was alreayd way too much
The remainder of the funds, I trust would be allocated to the appropriate strategy.
It would have been nice to be able to be more flexible about allocating actual amounts.
Also, what does it mean to go over budget?
test
Provide kids grade 3 to grade 12 leaser activities and keep them active in group
session. Too expensive to add them to any sport activities.
I think housing is the biggest issue.
It isn't tree pruning that is needed... it is PLANTING. Pruning may or may not be
helpful to trees. Protecting trees from salt, soil compression, etc. are also extremely
important.
Seriously can you not see what’s missing all around you? You’ve earned a billion
dollar building boom from downtown and still you don’t find pools community centres
and hockey arenas.
Remainder of $360 to be used for contingency or for leisure access programs
The remainder could be spent on Leisure Access
The rest of this budget can be used for something else. I.e. PUBLIC recreational
centers open to EVERYBODY
I am not an expert on forests, housing, leisure or community grants. This is why I vote
for our mayor and council and why the city has experts on staff. Why are you asking
uninformed people (like me) for their opinions on major city initiatives? This feels like a
marketing tactic - is that a good idea?
My selections reflect my belief that we should increase taxes above the rate of
inflation. Also, I see some room for balance on some of the above selections such as
the Leisure Access Card to cover NAs. Those NAs making a certain amount of profit
could be exempt from this coverage (only cover those smaller NAs needing the
financial support for this) leading to a reduction in costs associated with the proposal.
Spend the additional money onhigh quality childcare
I believe with the rediculous taxes that we all pay that coming up with the measly
sums you are talking about should not be an issue,how about looking into all of the
misappropriation of our funds such as our taxes to begin with!
Leisure activities made available to children at a young age creates a sense of
community and home for those children that perhaps otherwise have troubled homes.
Investing in children at a young age to make good friends, stay busy with healthy
activities, etc will help them avoid drugs and poor friend groups once they hit middle
school and high school. Over time, this acts as a real solution to homelessness, rather
than a band-aid solution of low incoming housing (which doesn't solve the real
problem)
Pioneer park community center
All of these programs look like they could be very valuable. It was difficult task to
allocate scarce resources to them. While I wanted to ensure the Affordable Housing
Strategy had the maximum suggested funding, the rest of the decisions were
somewhat arbitrary for me as they all seemed to be worthwhile. Ultimately, I chose not
to fund Leisure Access, as it allowed me to spend at least a bit on the others and
come close the the allotted funding. While I think this exercise does have a purpose, I
want to be clear that I would favour funding for all of these initiatives. I do favour
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housing in particular as having a roof over ones head is a pretty fundamental right in a
just society.
Note: Putting on my academic hat: this is too much information, and questions that are
too specific, for this level of survey. I would argue the answers to these allocation
questions should be used carefully. Comments will be more important the aggregate
responses to the multiple choice options. At best, this set of questions will just give an
indication of which of these initiatives survey respondents (who will be a very biased
sample of all residents) like the best...
I'd have liked to assign more funds to these programs, and understand the difficulty in
doing so via this exercise.
Increase the grants the city hands out by much more to give community organizations
more money to do their work
Money to be spent on actual building and not rhetoric and paperwork and extra city
Hall staff,Less talk more practical action
I think that money spent on things like Gaukel Green and affordable housing will pay
off over time and will be either more expensive or impossible in the future. I would also
like to see the block containing the former bus station converted to an extension of
Victoria Park. Do we really have to build yet another condo complex? What I see
happening is more condos and commercial space but no associated green space.
(Examples - High rise at Joseph and Queen, The condos behind City Hall,One
Victoria, Gaukle and Charles, King W. at Water) It looks like lots of new people but no
recreational or green space to go with it. I don't think anyone really wants to live in an
overdeveloped, sardine can sort of situation.
What is a quick win?
Fee Assistance should NOT go to affiliated sport groups.
Communications centres should receive funding because i don't easily recognize the
difference between centre programs and city programs since they run out of city
facilities. BUT, community centres must contribute to the fee assistance budget and
not just take all the revenue. Maybe the community centres pay a certain percentage
depending on which revenue group they fall into... example: if they make more money
and are sustainable they can give more,if they make nothing then they give nothing.
The money collected is for the city's good and not just for the specific community
centre.
I am part of a group that benefits from a Community Grant. We are very grateful, and
are consciously giving backto the community. To me, sustainable forestry and
affordable housing are more important than leisure activities, which is why I chose to
allocate the remaining funds in the way I did.
$135k to Leisure Access Program
More recreation facilities are required. better traffic flow for cars. Already there is traffic
jam at rush hours. More bike trails are being built but cars are being punished. need to
plan expansion of communities properly. Put the roads, facilities etc before building
the homes and people movingin.
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7)Is there anything else you’d like to share with us about the proposed budget?
Comments:
City Finances
Spend the money wisely!!
You do not correct waste by spending more. Kitchener and Waterloo as per the Region,
should be one community, with all the associated savings. Everything else is a waste, and
only those at the trough benefiting form the duplicated services would disagree. The
Municipality should work for the people, not the other way around.
I realize we have a liberal socialist majority of councillors but I am hoping there are enough on
council to provide some sober budgeting. Taxes arent provided to the City to spend for the
sake of spending.
Tax increases beyond the rate of inflation are unacceptable. The Region needs to have a
very serious look at efficiencies. Want to raise revenue without impacting taxes? Start fining
bicyclists who break the law with impunity.
Once you are in the system, you lose sight of the goal to serve citizens. Government is
necessary but should be more responsible with taxpayer funds. Please, please, please
reduce the city government's footprint. I hope I am wrong, but there doesn't seem to be any
significant effort to aggressively cut waste in operations. Thank you for asking for input and
kudos to those who are attempting to be prudent with our tax dollars.
The City of Kitchener seems to think that a budget MUST be spent, that no surplus can be
accrued. It seems to me that those who come to the City looking for "a handout" should be
preparedto invest at least as much of their own money as they are looking for from the City.
Now that there is a destination marketing fee in place for tourism funding should be cut
significantly. It would also make more sense to put them under economic development
(regionally) but city funds support both
All budgets and staff, fire, cops etc. pay should be tied to the rate of inflation. Make it a tax
payer law. Just like a private company. This is what we can afford to pay, as this is what we
take in. Stop giving away my money to neighborhood BBQ's. I have my own.
All of those capital items in the survey are great for building community and for making
headlines, but I wouldn't want to add capital without being very mindful of the associated
operating costs formaintenance that will follow. Given the ongoing infrastructure deficits it
may be more wisely used to address those less "sexy" but required projects so we don't have
sink holes, frozen water infrastructure, back ups etc Also, the further we go into complete
streets, the more expensive it gets and I don't think people fully appreciate how much we are
paying to accomodate a very small portion of the population that cycle - especially in the
winter .
Stop spending money on the downtown. Stop spending money on the arts, stop spending
money making the special interest groups and start spending Monday on the other 9 wards.
Take the budget decide it by 9 and the do things that will benefit every person in each ward
but no money to the downtown they have been getting the lions share for the last 45 years
Time to save so when times are tuff. we have money
Instead of thinking of ways to increase taxes and spending you be be thinking of ways to
reduce taxes and spending.
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PLEASE RESPECT THE TAXPAYER. WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE MILLIONS
SPENT ON THE LRT TENT ON KING STREET? DID WE GET A REFUND OR DID
I/WE/TAXPAYER END UP PAYING FOR THIS FIASKO ONCE AGAIN?
Please stay within budget allocated, do not spend money we don’t have
I know this will NOT go over well, buthas anyone in the high bracket of income, ever consider
taking a wage cut, instead of a raise. I am sure that ups the budget also. I actually find it
beyond me that someone, needs to have 100,000. a year or more, to have a comfortable
lifestyle. I hear people TALK about how they can help the less fortunate. A good leader
shows the way, and does not talk the way!!!
I wish we could see a better breakdown/more details on how the dollars are spent in
departments. Seeing one overall spend in a department doesn't show citizens the percentage
spent on wages, projects, work that is being done etc. In private sector a more detailed
breakdown has to happen before any approvals are given.
Please stop wasting money on things.
tHERE IS ONLY ONE TAXPAYER, council needs to respect that not everyone makes the
kind of money & benefits that city employees do, and do with less by contracting out things
like security, golf courses etc to save the TAXPAYER MONEY
I am STRONGLY for increasing taxes, especially in wealthy areas, to increase services. Good
things aren't free
Budgets should be steadily decreased and taxes should not be raised.
Stop wasting money! Ensure high rise residential buildings are diverting trash appropriately.
My building is set up for green collection; yet it goes uncollected. Epic fail in a ‘climate
emergency’. Do things right the first time. Ensure projects are delivered on time and on
budget.
Please make the average wage for new hires go down so that it takes years before city
employees hit the sunshine list. The average tax payer in Kitchener isn't ever going to be on
the sunshine list, so why are there so many City employees on it? The City can do more with
less money, it just needs to managed properly.
Do better. Taxpayers aren't a bottomless cash source.
Cut the fat
This city has to start reining in the spending on things that are not vital -no bike lanes , no
snow shoveling, no gifts for nice neighbours etc. We need to keep taxes low and provide vital
service only -rent is unaffordable, property tax is unaffordable
Budget should not exceed inflation
Be creative like those of us in the private sector, run budget surpluses to fund your new
initiatives, stop asking for more from your hard working tax payers.
Yes, stop wasting our damn money on ludicrous projects.
You can't keep relying on property taxes to fund everything. Maybe it's time to look at user
fees.
Focus on smart spending/spending effectively and not just spending budget with some due
diligence. Utilize reverse auctions to ensure we get the best value for our dollars (using
proper tools allow this to happen within municipal regulations, such as Bonfire software).
Great tax money like it id your home budget. Don't spend just because you always have in the
past. Why is the Iron Horse Trail getting upgrades every 2-3 years? Was there no legit
master plan? Think before you spend my money....PLEASE! Stop giving 5g to upscale
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heritage home Reno's, what home owner wants to subsidize Victoria Park executive homes.
Do we get 5g back + interest if they sellthe home?
I know that we must invest in sewer repairs but good Lord, how do you expect us to be able to
afford this? Why am I paying more for water that I'm not even using? How can my waste
water bill be higher than my water usage bill?
Transportation/Transit
Please consider putting a traffic light at the cross walk on lancaster just north of Elizabeth.
Thank you!
make developers pay for the services for that development, so that we don't have to have
budget increases... and that includes the ultimate building of 4 lane roads (don't build 2 lane
road, and then 3 years later tear it all up to expand to 4 lanes). Do it right the first time!
more money to safe active transportation and start charging cars for road infrastructure
Stop throwing away my money. Why do you spend money to narrow existing roads and make
them more dangerous for cyclists? Why do you throw money away to reduce speed limits
that are already reasonable - and rarely enforced? Why do you even contemplate the city
clearing sidewalks when you know you won’t do it as quickly as the public does? Why not
enforce existing bylaws instead. You spend like a drunken Trudeau!!!
No more money to bike lanes. They are not being used. In good weather I have not seen
any bikes in the bike lanes and there is congestion for motorists with the reduction of lanes
and on street parking. Too costly to maintain including snow clearing.
As a resident who doesn't own a car, I'd like to see improvements in public transit such as
increased bus service, more bus routes and connections (some of us have been negatively
impacted by the LRT) and better connections to other modes of transit such as the
Greyhound station and VIA Rail. I'd also like the city to consider putting pedestrian crossings
around trails such as at the Iron Horse Trail (specifically where the trails comes out on streets
such as Glasgow, Victoria (between Strange St and Patricia), and other crossings which are
right now not safe to cross due to high vehicular traffic. I'd also like to see better snow clean
up and salting of pedestrian walkways.
Would like to understand which roads are under regional control/repair versus city
responsibility. River Road at Ottawa N. is a mess and has been for years. They just keep
adding patches on patches on patches to fill holes. I didn't see anything in the budget
regarding repairs to this area.
More $ towards traffic calming
Please plan ahead for increased vehicular traffic on streets and Conestoga parkway and
parking facilities in new residential projects.
Replacing car lanes with bike lanes is bad idea. Thanks.
ION! My granddaughter will paying this off until she dies. What a white elephant.
Unfortunately the majority of citizens who did not want it, lost the decision. Stoip wasting any
more money on it and pay off the current debt.
Please waste no more tax money on sidewalks and "multi-purpose trails" like the ones along
Manitou or Homer Watson. That money needs to be spend on improving road quality for cars,
as there are ~1000 people driving a car or a truck per each person walking or cycling along
those roads.
I feel more money could be allocated to "people-friendly transportation" I cycle every April to
October and walk the remaining of the year. More money invested in improving these areas
might encourage more people to get out. 4.6 Million for the Mill-Courtland Community Centre
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seems like a huge waste of money. Take a million out of that and put it into transportation.
Win Win.
Please consider improving public transportation in suburbs like Activa. It would definitely
reduce the number of cars on the road, which is necessary for the environment. Also, it might
be useful to try to get citizens more involved in this ahead of time, and education of all this. I
only unexpectedly stumbled upon it because I was looking up parking info. Would have been
great to get this info ahead of time in the mail orsomething so I'd have more time to go over
everything, and brainstorm some thoughts and ideas.
I would like to see more funding/options available for traffic calming as well as more urgency
in repairing sewer/water lines. In our neighbourhood meeting last year, the City made it clear
that although the water lines are very old (and some bursting) in our neighbourhood, we were
close to the bottom of the list for repairs. And even though the meeting was specifically
organized by city staff to discuss trafficcalming in our neighbourhood; we were told that there
were not funds to help (although our Councillor was able to find funds for two traffic calming
40km signs afterwards) and that the speeding was “not that bad” compared to other areas.
This is really not acceptable, particularly since neither of the two traffic calming signs were
placed any where close to the park. And the park does not have a proper controlled or
marked crossing. This is a bigger issue when vehicles are doing 60km or more in a 40km
zonewith a curve in the road. The area on the other side of Westwood drive as also not
addressed at all, with regards to traffic calming. I was also told on the phone, prior to the
meeting, by a city staff member, that there was money available for park improvements. This
was contradicted by the city staff running the meeting, as we were told that was not true. The
park issue came up as a result of the Cook Homes development, which not only was taking
up green space that was previously available to the neighbourhood (as did the development
built by Country Green Homes on Westwood Drive near Glasgow), but that it was going to
increase the number of people who would be using this space. Having more green spaces
available per capita would be much appreciated by all tax payers. More green space also
plays an important role in combating climate change.
Thank you
Big need to study the traffic flow, impact of construction on traffic, and plan fast express
routes around the city.
Is there any plans to either build abridge or a tunnel at the train tracks on Lancaster street?
Affordable Housing
I want to be able to walk downtown Kitchener at night to go to one of our local restaurants. I
want to support local small businesses but I can't do that when I fear for my safety. When you
walk downtown you are constantly yelled at by people who are high on meth and other
substance. These people need help so they can get better and we can feel safe walking
downtown. Housing, shelters and social services are the most important.
The community can be engaged creatively in the issue of affordable housing and housing
affordability. Provide leadership, options and suggestions - show you you are working with
developers to make our city liveable for all.
A lot of thought and work must be put into homelessness and providing safe places for the
poor to stay.
Money needs to be spent for safety in the downtown core. A part of this is resources for the
homeless population, but also safety for those who live and work and want to shop in the
downtown core.
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I just hate that there are two people in my family earning a decent income and we cannot get
ahead. We don't spend much, we don't do much, we earn over 100k in our household and we
will never be able to afford a home in this area. We are forced to rent and thus never have
actual control over our own home. When sifting through the real estate ads its also
depressing. Often we will find something we like only to find the racist yet accepted "indian
only" postings. Its just sad. I feel sorry for all those worse off than my family. I donate to funds
(especially for animals), but simply can't do more. With that being said, I do not feel the
budget actually sets out to achieve anything. I feel its all words to placate people. I also feel
the city understands most people just won't pay attention and whatever they do will just slide
by without any issue.
we need to help the people in need. Families and even single people who can’t afford to eat.
What the food banks give to these people isa joke!
Affordable and supportive housing helps reduce hospital visits, police/fire/ambulance calls,
shelter and motel costs, etc!
We desperately need more affordable housing if we are going to help/reduce homelessness
in our city/community
This cityis getting too expensive to live in. You are leading a bunch of house poor people.
The wages haven't kept up and I predict food banks will be used here more than in any other
city. Do you want that reputation? Toronto is expensive, but wages reflect it.
Not nearly enough money is being spent on affordable housing. Do better.
There needs to be more investment in the current housing climate. More financial support for
housing initiatives and for supportive and supportive housing. HELP THE HOMELESS.
Please budget to help with our city’s problem related to folks experiencing homelessness!
Affordable housing and supports should be PRIORITY.
Home prices need to decrease, this will allow for more people to live in kitchener, meaning
more taxes for you that way rather than through people buying a home
Snow removal
Snow clearing of sidewalks should be a city responsibility. you cannot expect people to get
out of their cars if the sidewalks are covered in snow.
Do not fund snow removal on sidewalks orany further investigations about it. It's a waste of
time and resources
Budget should reflect the initial stage of a sidewalk snow-clearing initiative. There is great
sense in consulting city residents on the budget (I appreciated the exercise), but greater
consideration should be given to the sidewalk. The year-round usability of pedestrian
walkways is far more important than bicycle lanes, given the ratio of pedestrians to cyclists in
the city. Walking to places is the key to the future, although cycling is also a marginal part of
it. Some funds from the "Hood" budget (currently overbudgeted) should be spent on
expanding the cleared areas on streets leading to schools, for instance. Thanks!
Need city to step up for sidewalk snow clearance. Should clean sidewalks to level demanded
of residents, or change requirements for residents re: bare sidewalks!
I appreciate the opportunity to weigh in on the budget. Thank you for the work that you do. I
would like the city to manage all snow clearing for roads (including bike lanes) and side walks,
even those crossing residents’ property. I would like to see sidewalk clearing prioritized, given
the effect it has on pedestrians, particularly female.
All citizens of Kitchener CAN NOT get out of there homes during the winter months if ALL
sidewalks are not cleared to the bare pavement! This means that All citizens of Kitchener
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CAN NOT access City programs, facilities, and services equally. Council should be taking a
proactive approach and saving funds from the capitaland operating budgets each year and
putting those funds into a separate reserve fund for sidewalk snow removal. Therefore,
reducing the amount of tax increase to residents for city-wide snow removal. This is the only
guaranteed way that All citizens of Kitchener will be able to get out of there homes during the
winter months to be an equal citizen of Kitchener.
should have city clean sidewalks for uniform surfaces
Please shovel the sidewalks
Having the City clear sidewalks is not something I am in favour with.
Less money for the downtown and more for the rest of the city. NO MORE MONEY for
cycling lanes; they are not used sufficiently. Seriously consider have the city clear sidewalks
in winter. If they can clear bike lanes then they can clear sidewalks. There are more
pedestrians than cyclists.
I'd like to see sidewalk clearing on residential streets be a priority for Kitchener.
Given the low tax increase this year, I don't know how you do it, we should be considering
adding sidewalk clearing. It's the right time, and clearly this year there is the opportunity to do
it.
Environment/Sustainability
Yes. CLIMATE CRISIS! THERE IS NO PLANET B! WAKE UP! People in power are so
consumed by money and budget planning. That's great but we really can't afford to focus on
what we can afford. We need to give everything we've got in order to preserve our doing
planet. I would rather put other initiatives on hold and ensure my future children will actually
have a life, then come back to those things once ourvery planet isn't up in flames!
you should make it mandatory for all new build condos to have geothermal by offering a
credit. If kitchener wants to lead climate change
More budget allocation for green initatives and CO2 reduction. For example yes storm water
renovation is extremely important but there is significantly higher budget for this than climate
change initiatives. Just like with the storm water strategy, Increasing taxes slightly to help pay
for more aggressive initiatives can set an example for others to follow.
I think the city should be looking at more green space downtown so that the city does not
become a congested, crowded disaster. All this development should be spread out to give
everyone some pleasant space.
I guess is not easy to find money for all projects in my opinion the environment should be a
priority because a healthy environment means healthy people, which will reduce costs in
other areas as well.
Please leave climate action to climatologists. Work on your local issues.
This budget seems very small compared to the size of our city. Simple operating costs of city
vehicles should be built into your normal budget. Electric cars are way cheaper then you’re
outlining in your budget to run. They don’t require the same maintenance. Converting all to
full electric will result in a net 0 cost.
Please continue to invest in green infrastructure-it’s great having community programmes,
but no onecan love a flooded neighbourhood.
We already are paying a carbon tax. Why would we need to pay an additional one for
Kitchener? Find ways to reduce spending and cut spending. The money is not endless.
More money should be spent towards sustainable jobs and green friendly. Jobs such as solar,
green roofs, gardens, tree planting and outside activities are all areas which will create jobs
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for the future and for the better way of living. Creating problems such as unaffordable housing
will just add to the traffic and pollution. Greener ways of living and job creation will provide
more opportunity to better the community and the communities health as well as create more
structured jobs for the unemployed, or people passionate about climate change who do not
have employment opportunities in that field. Thank you.
Stop taxing to fix a "climate crisis".
The city should invest and promote green initiatives such as electricity grids using battery
packs to store energy, accelerate the advent to clean transportation such as electric cars,
make all overhead exposed electric wires underground to prevent an outage from harsh
weather conditions, transition all public transport modes to underground system, incentives to
solar roof houses and using battery packs to run house chores during peak hours.
The city needs to be taking drastic action to mitigate climate change, and it needs to be taking
drastic action to eliminate homelessness. I would like to see stronger measures here.
Would like the city to consider why it uses SUVs. Are there not more economical and smaller
vehicles to use?
I strongly support additional investment in measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change,
even if larger tax increases are required to do so.
General Feedback
Hire more full time staff and stop hiring temps. If you need temps all year around you need full
time staff. Counsel needs to Start listening to managers when they keep asking for staff and
equipment.
focus on real needs and not on pet projects that satisfy small minority who likely don't pay
their share or any taxes anyway
no
Biggest question mark about the budget is the increase in costs for policing. The requested
cost increase seems unreasonable given other identified areas for cost efficiencies within the
police force. Please consider having a city-run snow-clearing service, even if it results in an
increase in taxes. Please add fluoride back in to the water supply.
I find it rather interesting that at 7:00 in the morning, a whole slew of city trucks are at
McDonalds while the occupants of said trucks are inside getting breakfast. Now I know they
start at7:00, but do you think it is fair they are just starting their shift and already taking a
break. I never had an employer that was so generous with his money. Wait, that was his
money, not ours.
Please place the priority on helping those in greatest need.
Put the $ into the older neighborhoods to build decent things in the old neighborhoods where
the $ has come from for a gazillion years and not the new neighborhoods who have this "we
deserve this stuff" - they chose to be in those new neighborhoods and they can WAIT like the
rest of us did for years for better things to come to them. There is too much "privilege"
expected now a days and the city needs to remember who originally funded them to become
the city they now are.
Spend on people, not on asphalt. Infrastructure can be good, but it always comes with long-
term liabilities and often just induces demand. Many of the problems we face moving forward
require a well-staffed, well-equipped, and well-trained staff. Intelligently designed
infrastructure will cost less anyway.
Thank you for being a city that spearheads new initiatives in urban development, environment
protection and overall "good culture".
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I noticed the previous initiatives went over budget. I am not sure how or why this was allowed
to happen. Perhaps management should provide a review of their progress to Council on a
regular basis (monthly) so that Council can rest assured that these budgets (and any others)
do not exceed the funding allocated without Council approval.
The remaining funds from the Capital Budget should be left to provide a cushion for any of
these Council approved budget overruns.
My sense is that city staff and councillors have their hearts and minds in the right place, but
seem to be nervous about upsetting a wealthy class of persons. More community outreach
and community involvement would be key. Communities are behind the benevolent ideas that
I have heard spoken at meetings and regional planning presentations. It is bizarre when
communities and neighbourhoods arethen betrayed by decisions that seem to be based on
short term profit rather than long term sustainability or positive community development.
I'm pretty excited about the priorities in this budget. Given the climate emergency, I'd like to
see more resources dedicated to the People-Friendly Transportation budget items. I think
things like pedestrianizing Gaukel St and implementing (quickly) a minimum network cycling
grid need to happen as we must create a city that better encourages active transportation
options. The Gaukel St project is a bonus as it also creates community connections/building.
Live within your means.
Think about proper staffing, People get frustrated if any of the service get done via city so
annoying. Not strong management to monitor and progress of any city activities. Waste of
money.
Eventually there will be a recession, we should be prepared, control spending. Review
assets, any disposable?
test
family doctors, affordable housing, environment, senior services,bicycle lanes and trails
The City of Kitchener has always been a progressive style of government able to increase the
City coffers by acquiring assets that pay dividends such as gas and Hydro. I would
recommend expanding this portfolio to allow for an increase in budget. Otherwise budgets
need to be cost neutral.
Wage increases are down if not not existent at present for most of the people how work in this
community. The Teachers our currently in a work to rule action and striking to achieve a 2%
wage increase just to keep pace with cost of living. Give this current economic climate a tax
increase in Kitchener is not acceptable.
Thank you for your consideration.
We just want what's fair,nothing more or less. We just want you to know that we bless,we
cry,we hurt and suffer as you do,just don't forget your humanity that's all we have left!
What difference does it make? Staff reports are 99% approved as presented to council. Might
as well eliminate council altogether because very little is done at council/committee meetings
except political posturing that has no effect on the staff recommendations.
I would like to see more focus on making Kitchener an attractive place to invest and visit, and
less focus on social programs and carbon.
Please get the basic, easy stuff like **Flouride In Our Water** back.
I want Kitchener fire restructured to account for the falling number of fires. Salaries and
retention bonuses for a job that gets away with 24hr shifts, proving they're not busy. Fire is
one of the city's biggest budget lines, and yet no one ever talks about more efficient service
delivery. They're not needed on most medical responses, and stats show they're not even the
ones that would typically get people out of a burning building. Police and bystanders are. This
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job is notwhat it was decades ago. We do not need the current service level. Please
investigate composite services, and reduce the ridiculous salaries.
I realize that I have not read your material in detail, and yet I am disappointed in the apparent
silenceon implementing your Age-friendly Action Plan.
You want seniors to stay in their homes but you raise taxes,hydro,water, ,These ridiculous
smart meters for hydro that are changed by season when seniors are home .....Your raising
fees at rate higher then the government raise are pensions. It won't be long before seniors will
be homeless living on the street
I really want to see fluoride in the water and the city taking care of shovelling sidewalks.
Thanks for this survey!
Priority to the environment. Protect our green space, trees and reduce emissions. Second;
affordable housing.
The less urgent issues were framed as equally important as the urgent ones, like the climate
and housing crisis we are all losing ground with. Reality check is needed as the 2020 budget
is being decided on.
h
Three things: Cycling, Sidewalk clearing, climate change, those are top priorities.
Buy smaller fire trucks how many full size fire trucks are actually needed? Use equipment till
its old not replaced every 4 years, parks don't need brand new trucks all the time. Think of all
the other taxes going up because if every level goes off inflation it's 3x the cost of inflation
overall between region city and province increasing stuff. Plus hydro increases water
increases... Like come on give the working poor (middle-class) a discount. Reduce office
budgets, car expenses middle management staff. Do what we all have to do reduce spending.
Preserving hiking trails and greenspace, addressing affordable housing, and expanding
recreation opportunities should be the priority.
Very disappointing to see particular landmarks go by the wayside i.e. Bara Castle could have
been turned into Regional Offices or other government offices, instead of razing this building
to build a new condominium. Carl Zehr let Schneider's leave for Hamilton- totally
unacceptable. Kitchener mandarins only see the financial s, not the whole picture.
Referencing the Public Sector Salary disclosure list for 2018 for the city of Kitchener. It was
somewhat baffling to see how a disproportionate percentage of our firefighters made the list.
"I am not referencing just making the cut" very many were well above the $100,000 mark. I
do value the job and great importance of our firefighters to the safety of our community.
However after consulting the list and budgetary expenses I feel there may be a severe
mismanagement of taxpayer funds towards our firefighting services particularly salaries. After
some quick research and consultation of reports of multiple communities across North
America (USA and Canada) there are many more populous cities and communities that do
not have such a great taxpayer expense towards firefighting services especially salaries.
More to improve environment and nature in the city. Everything else maintain -City is doing a
great job!
Climate action and affordable housing are the most important issues to me because if these
foundational problems are not solved, people are often unable to participate in community
programs or be involved in their neighborhood as much as they would like to be.
Better library services across the city
you base funding for "luxury " items museum etc on population growth.... out of 10,000 growth
lets say
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1% might use the museum.. spending that much money for 100 people is a total waste, make
the cost of usage as the fee for service, like you do for pools and hockey rinks
More parking in downtown Kitchener for businesses. Free after certain time. Affordable
housing for first time homeowners within the region.
We need to cut back on any money going to the airport.With the proximity of the larger
airports in close geographical area and with the hoped future of a fast rail system down the
401 corridor the expansion of the airport will not be necessary. We give far too much money
to support this business. Its time the users of it pay or it gets reduced in size so that it is able
to support its self . We have thrown far too much monet at it over the years with zero success.
Some of the proposed options need to be more elaborated upon because it's difficult to offer
an opinion on something that we don't know what it is. The terminology is too confusingor
ambiguous.
First part of survey was good...last part is poorly designed and should be used only with
caution. Be careful not to use results to selectively justify programs most liked by staff.
Water and sewer infrastructure is a priority. Many of the other projects like love my hood are
frills. Focus on the priorities
The region, city and school board need a method of routing issues to the correct government
with one phone call.
Everybody’s company will help in everybody’s growth.
Please, take some action in downtown! Again, too many prostitutes, drug dealers, and
homeless.
If we want a vibrant city that will attract companies and other organizations, we need to invest
in infrastructure such as roads and sidewalks, culture such as the Symphony and the Registry
Theatre, and we need to address substance abuse and homelessness in the downtown area.
Concentration of social housing and homeless shelters in the downtown core makes
investment in the core less attractive. Downtown should not be a scary place. Social housing
and homeless shelters should be located on less valuable land away from the downtown area
so more units/beds can be provided. (Less money spent on the land means more money
available for construction of the buildings.)
There are somebi-laws that need changing. The first one I'd like to point out is the use of
propane/gas bbqs not being allowed in multi-level housing shouldn't include townhomes made
of concrete and block building, it proves no condition for danger of using natural gasas a form
of heat. It just seems archaic
We live in Deer Ridge in South Kitchener. We have no nearby community centre, no library,
no schools, and no nearby grocery store (except Costco) which makes grocery shopping
difficult to pick up items that are not in Costco. We also pay some of the highest taxes in the
whole region. It would be great if we could have access to some of the services available in
other neighbourhoods.
Cut the leaf program, a contractor is already paid to collect leaves. Taking leaves plugs
drains, interferes with your precious bike lanes & curb lane. By cutting the leaf program, you
will reduce equipment on the road, cut CO2, save in wages, wear & tear, traffic closures &
spend no $. Use these savings to pay for arena maintenance.
$1 mil for climate emergency is bull****, just to look good on the news & get a stupid plaque.
This entire process of greed disgusts me every year. You take more than enough & services
are more the good. Quit spending my $
Focus on the services and infrastructure currently in place, use Asset Management and
service level targets to drive decision making.
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I think arenas should be sold off to the private sector. They are terrible for the climate and are
used by a small percentage of rate payers.
Thank you for this opportunity to collaborate.
Start listing to the working people not the people who pay you to listen.
I'm excited about the Mill Street Community Centre expansion. I would love it if we could look
at putting some hydro lines in the downtown core underground. It's much more expensive, but
with the rate of development occurring, the lines and poles are getting more and more
prominent. I also wrote detailed comments on this entire survey, which failed to submit then
reset to the beginning. I have not bothered to write additional comments this second time.
Thanks for your hard work in building a very progressive budget, based on the priorities that
matter to citizens.
I feel that the City of Kitchener is doinga fine job. Please continue.
Priority should be given to the Queen Street revitalization downtown.
I don't think that the general public will understand this survey. It is complex and I have a
feeling people will see the name of the service or grant and not look into it. I think your data is
going to be skewed. You should have included a short brief meaning of each (at each
section). Side note - you have staff that are proposing recommendations to you, which a
smart and educated on risks and what is needed for the community. I understand community
outreach and engagement, but the general public shouldn't be deciding for council or to
provide one more thing they should consider. If the right employeess are making good
decisions, it should be between staff and council.
I beg you to listen to you citizens. I beg you to not listen to the uneducated misinformed
councillors. The people at the city earned their positions and are experts in their field. Let
them handle things.
Get the streetscape on Queen & Duke built! Love the LRT.
'I would like to see:
- Millions more in funding for affordable housing
-A focus on climate action at the consumer level
Stop funding safe injection sites and funnel that money into something useful. Like schools,
hospitals, or roads.
The civic district and Centre in the Square need reinvestment, they are central cultural assets
that are in need up updating.
Thank you for the time, effort, and consideration you put into these important decisions for our
community.
Thank you for all of your hard work. Money doesn’t grow on trees, so our family appreciates
all that you do to stretch the existing funds that are available. :) I am happy to pay more taxes
to support my neighbours in need.
There is an incorrect link in the PDF for the budget summary, page 3. Page 3 link for
kitchener.ca/ourplan, links to: Error when getting information for file
“/C:/Users/RyanH/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/ZWEU09P7
/kitchener.ca/ourplan”: No such file or directory
It's time to start addressing the key issues in the City. Time to focus beyond the incoming and
rapid development as a "tech-city" and trendy pieces of Kitchener but really focus on who are
being left behind and those falling between the cracks.
As population of Kitchener is growing fast! We need to prepare and plan ahead for the
expanding of public services (school, hospital, security, etc.) and transportation (road
expansion. etc). As well as more entertainment places for people.
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Please beg council to try and occasionally take the longer term view of what is good for the
City.
Just include parking for Kitchener overnight 15 passes per licence per year
Please upgrade public sector and maintain to attract more ppl to chose this region to live in.
More focus on creating jobs for new immigrants in the community.
My priorities for the city are housing, transportation and the environment. The city should
make some more contracts with Metrolinx to increase transit from Kitchener to Toronto for
commuters, but housing is the #1 priority.
1) Currently urban properties subsidize the costs related to servicing roads, water pipes,
electricity, emergency services, transit services, etc., to suburban properties by a ratio of at
least 3:1. Over a period of 10 to 20 years change the property tax rates so that suburban
dwellers pay more of the true costs of maintaining their chosen lifestyle. By slowly
implementing the change of a very long time frame suburban dwellers have lots of time to
either allow greater densification in their current neighbourhoods, move to more urban and
compact areas to benefit from the lower property tax rates, or adjust to the higher tax rates.
See these examples of the true costs of suburban vs. urban living:
https://institute.smartprosperity.ca/sites/default/files/suburban_0.jpg
https://institute.smartprosperity.ca/sites/default/files/urban_0.jpg
https://institute.smartprosperity.ca/sites/default/files/infographic1500.png
2a) Currently, only capital and operational expenses related to OFF-street parking (garages
and surface lots) are being accounted for in the parking enterprise’s budgets. However,
expenses, both capital (construction/amortization) and operational
(plowing/sweeping/repairing/illuminating), related to ON-street parking, both free and
metered, are not currently accounted for in the parking enterprise budgets because they
come out of the roads/transportation budgets. These expenses should be attributed to the
parking enterprise, but they are not, and as a result, the parking enterprise is currently vastly
underestimating the cost of providing parking and looks profitable when it is not. Because
there are no costs currently associated with on-street parking any revenues generated from
on-street parking end up subsidizing off-street parking ventures making them look like they
are performing better than they are. Please change the accounting practices of the parking
enterprise to truthfully reflect the high costs of city provided parking. This will allow the public
and council to better quantify and understand the level of subsidy going towards providing
parking, and that the parking enterprise is not even remotely profitable. Based alone on the
two examples below, you can see that when extrapolated across the entire city the
misallocation of costs is in the millions. Implementing this change in practice also has the
benefit of more accurately quantifying the true state of our infrastructure deficit as it is
currently over-estimating the costs due to including vast areas occupied by on-street parking
a very, large majority of which brings in zero revenue to the city.
A free on-street parking example, would be Homewood Ave, between West Ave and Queen
St S, which is 4,067m2 in area (7m wide x 581m long). Free on-street parking, nearly
24/7/365) occupies a third of the roadway (2.3m x 581m = 1,336.3m2 / 4,067 = 32.9%)
therefore a third of the costs associated with the roadway should be attributed to the parking
enterprise budget and only the portion of the roadway actually transporting people or goods,
in this case 67.1%, should be allocated to the roads/transportation budget. Assuming a similar
cost of $9.79 per square metre to build and operate roads as the Region of Waterloo in 2018
(Source: MBN Canada) this would result in an extra expense of $13,082 (1,336.3m2 x
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$9.79/m2), for small stretch of road alone, being added to the parking enterprise’s budget,
and brings in zero revenue for the city to offset the costs.
A metered on-street parking example would be Ahrens St W, between Young Stand Queen
St N, which is 2,023m2 in area (7m wide x 289m long). Metered on-street parking occupies a
third of the roadway (2.3m x 289m = 664.7m2 / 2,023m2 = 32.9%), therefore a third of the
costs associated with the roadway should be attributed to the parking enterprise budget and
only the portion of the roadway actually transporting people or goods, in this case 67.1%,
should be allocated to the roads/transportation budget. Assuming a similar cost of $9.79 per
square metre to build and operate roads as the Region of Waterloo in 2018 (Source: MBN
Canada) this would result in an extra expense of $6,507 (219.3m2 x $9.79/m2), for small
stretch of road alone, being added to the parking enterprise’s budget. Revenue generated
Monday to Saturday 8am to 5pm by the 23 available spots would be modest at best given that
rarely are more than 2 or 23 spots per hour occupied during peak hours (Source: Google
Street View)) and are currently subsidizing the OFF-street parking expenses.
2b) Assuming suggestion 1a (above) isimplemented, parking revenues will no longer cover
the true parking enterprise’s expenses. Please increase the parking fees, or increase the
number of hours per day where parking fees are required, or remove all non-profitable on-
street parking spaces completely when reconstructing a narrower road or get out of the
business of subsidizing private vehicle storage or some combination of the above to pay for
this venture. We don’t allow individuals to store excess furniture on our roads, or excess
cloths in our water pipes, so excess vehicles should also not be allowed on city streets either;
and we certainly wouldn’t subsidize them to do so. If the city isn’t going to charge the true cost
of all forms of parking, then it should get completely out of the private vehicle storage
business.
2c) Please change the accounting practices of the parking enterprise such that when free
parking is offered as part of a promotion (e.g. Christkindl market or free on weekends or free
in the evenings) it is accounted for as a marketing expense. This will allow the public and
council to better quantify the level of subsidy going towards parking. Think of all the parking
spots in the city, both on and off street, as units of a product the city is selling. The city has a
finite number of units to sell each year equal to the number of on/off street spots multiplied by
the number of hours in a year. Anytime one of these units of product (1 parking space for 1
hour) goes unsold, or is discounted, or is priced below what the market is willing to pay, or
given away completely free, that represents unsold or under-valued product that the city has
invested resources in, capital to build and operational to maintain
(plow/sweep/patch/illuminate), that it not realizing revenue (or sufficient revenue) on to off-set
the expenses. It is similar to having vacant rooms in a hotel, but instead of vacant rooms for
people we use our streets to house vehicles. Hotels, like the city, need to upkeep their
facilities, and thus charge enough on their occupied rooms to cover the costs of all their
vacant rooms across the year. Currently, the city is not doing that, and as a result is
subsidizing free parking, both on and off street, at great expense to the tax-payer. If the city
isn’t going to charge the true cost of all forms of parking then it should get completely out of
the private vehicle storage business.
2d) The city should implement real-time pricing across all of its parking locations, including
on-street parking, to maximize the return on their investment; let demand set the price people
are willing to pay to store their vehicles on public property. Use the sensors in the new street
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Detailed Survey Results
lights to determine when spots are and aren’t occupied to determine a minimum rate, and to
alert by-law when a car hasparked illegally.
3) Stop using vehicle throughput/level of service as the key indicator for dictating the outcome
of proposed road projects. For all road projects, both new and re-construction, in addition to
providing council with the amortized capitalcosts for each design option being considered for
the project, staff should also provide the life-time operational/maintenance costs, and societal
costs (traffic injuries, CO2 emissions, etc.) for each of the design options. This will help to
ensure that council understands the long-term commitment they are making is the most cost
effective option over the long term. For example, if staff propose two options, a 4 lane road (2
lanes each direction), or a 3 lane road (1 lane each direction + centre turning lane) currently
the 4 lane road would be selected because it provides a higher level of service for vehicles
and is “future proofing” against future congestion. However, if evaluated using multiple
measures the 4 lane option would not come out on top because:
a. Although the 4 lane road might provide increased vehicle capacity for a few months at best,
induced demand will soon fill up the added capacity. A three lane road will provide a similar or
better level of service, but not induce the same demand.
b. The capital costs of a 3 lane option would be lower (narrower road = less materials needed
+ less land needed). Less land needed means less land to expropriate/but, and more land left
in private ownership to tax.
c. The operational costs of a 3 lane option would be lower (less area to
plow/sweep/patch/illuminate).
d. The societal costs of a 3 lane option are lower:
i. 3 lane roads are safer and have fewer injuries and death than 4 lane roads because there
fewer points of conflict, greater adherence to speed limits, shorter cross distances for
pedestrians
ii. 3 lane roads have fewer emissions because there is no induced demand from an over-built
road and fewer materials (concrete and asphalt are high emission emitting processes).
Consider investing in community access event for families and support for eco initiatives for
households.
Solutions to many of our problems are in the minds of those who cannot access initiatives.
Create a option for the city’s residents to come forth with their energy/climate/recreational and
developmental ideas and put money in the minds of those leading the future
Be bold. Years of pressure to keep taxes low has led to the back-up of long-term asset
management and maintenance situation we are in now and will continue to pay for.I'd rather
pay for it now slowly over time rather than pass that burden on to the next generation again.
These are hard trade-offs - thanks for your efforts to listen to many, MANY different opinions
and trying to make sense of it all!
Don’t listen to the vocal minority that don’t represent our entire community. We are prepared
to pay more in taxes for better programs and servoces
More funding for arts and culture!!
Time for an arts master plan
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